Primer. (12.)
Directed by Shane Carruth. 2004.
Starring Shane Carruth, David Sullivan, Casey Gooden, Anand Upadhyaya, Carrie Crawford. Available now on Blu-ray from Arrow Films “Primer + Upstream Color: Two Films by Shane Carruth.” 77 mins.
The first time you see Primer your response will be Uh, What? The second time, armed now with the knowledge that you're going to have to pay really, really close attention to this story about two scientists who accidentally build a time travel machine in their garage in their free time, your response will be UH, WHAT? Even after you give up and find a plot explanation or diagram or explanatory flow chart on Google it's still going to be a struggle to follow. It's like that game of chess when everything appears to be progressing well and you're developing your pawns nicely and you've already castled and then suddenly you look at the board and realise your position is absolutely screwed and you've no idea how it happened. Everything was fine just a minute ago and now you're completely lost
Or, if you prefer, it's the intellectual equivalent of a bucking bronco: you ride it for a while and though it is a tough ride you think you have it under control but then it just throws you. Your only hope is that each time you get a little further through before this happens. But you won't.
Now, in any other film, this would all be pretty frustrating but you accept it in Primer because our experience in watching it is exactly that of the two on-screen protagonists having their project and their lives spirally out of control. They spend the majority of the film trying to work out what it is they have done and trying to keep track of its ramifications.
We are accustomed to being invited to follow the stories of very intelligent people, geniuses even. But, of course, they can't really be geniuses because we can understand what is happening. Aaron (Carruth) and Abe (Sullivan) are two men who, “by anyone's judgment … would have to be considered clever,” but even they can't keep track of their own story so what chance do we have?
The film is shot to look as mundane as possible. Now we are much more accustomed to the world of tech startups than we were 17 years ago but this world of bland out of town industrial units and garages is still a remarkable landscape. The characters all talk in tech jargon and never stop to see if the audience is keeping up. All of which is oddly exhilarating: it gives the sense of being on the inside. We have no idea what anyone's talking about, but we are there in the room with them; in some way, our presence must be adding value.
Shane Carruth wrote, directed, starred, produced, edited, did the cinematography and wrote the music score. He is an uncompromising talent, one that sometimes you wish might yield just a little. You suspect he could be a pretty fine screen actor, but aside from the two films he has directed he's only been in one film. If nothing else, an acting career would be a way to raise money and profile to realise more of the projects he has in his head. The characters in Primer are always looking for the financial value of something. The irony of the film is that it is only when they veer away from using the machine for material gain and explore the moral applications of it that things go wrong.
Least I think that's what happens.
Directed by Shane Carruth. 2004.
Starring Shane Carruth, David Sullivan, Casey Gooden, Anand Upadhyaya, Carrie Crawford. Available now on Blu-ray from Arrow Films “Primer + Upstream Color: Two Films by Shane Carruth.” 77 mins.
The first time you see Primer your response will be Uh, What? The second time, armed now with the knowledge that you're going to have to pay really, really close attention to this story about two scientists who accidentally build a time travel machine in their garage in their free time, your response will be UH, WHAT? Even after you give up and find a plot explanation or diagram or explanatory flow chart on Google it's still going to be a struggle to follow. It's like that game of chess when everything appears to be progressing well and you're developing your pawns nicely and you've already castled and then suddenly you look at the board and realise your position is absolutely screwed and you've no idea how it happened. Everything was fine just a minute ago and now you're completely lost
Or, if you prefer, it's the intellectual equivalent of a bucking bronco: you ride it for a while and though it is a tough ride you think you have it under control but then it just throws you. Your only hope is that each time you get a little further through before this happens. But you won't.
Now, in any other film, this would all be pretty frustrating but you accept it in Primer because our experience in watching it is exactly that of the two on-screen protagonists having their project and their lives spirally out of control. They spend the majority of the film trying to work out what it is they have done and trying to keep track of its ramifications.
We are accustomed to being invited to follow the stories of very intelligent people, geniuses even. But, of course, they can't really be geniuses because we can understand what is happening. Aaron (Carruth) and Abe (Sullivan) are two men who, “by anyone's judgment … would have to be considered clever,” but even they can't keep track of their own story so what chance do we have?
The film is shot to look as mundane as possible. Now we are much more accustomed to the world of tech startups than we were 17 years ago but this world of bland out of town industrial units and garages is still a remarkable landscape. The characters all talk in tech jargon and never stop to see if the audience is keeping up. All of which is oddly exhilarating: it gives the sense of being on the inside. We have no idea what anyone's talking about, but we are there in the room with them; in some way, our presence must be adding value.
Shane Carruth wrote, directed, starred, produced, edited, did the cinematography and wrote the music score. He is an uncompromising talent, one that sometimes you wish might yield just a little. You suspect he could be a pretty fine screen actor, but aside from the two films he has directed he's only been in one film. If nothing else, an acting career would be a way to raise money and profile to realise more of the projects he has in his head. The characters in Primer are always looking for the financial value of something. The irony of the film is that it is only when they veer away from using the machine for material gain and explore the moral applications of it that things go wrong.
Least I think that's what happens.
