Primer is a 2004 american science fiction film about the accidental discovery of time travel. Shane carruth, who made the movie by himself, also plays the starring role, because he could not find anyone else to do it. There is some background on the making of the film and a list of theatres where the movie is playing in late 2004. Every inch of film we shot was in that movie with the exception of maybe 30 feet. To fully understand each and every aspect of primer requires multiple viewings those who claim that they got the film in first viewing itself are either lying or are just being a.
I watched it few weeks ago and i still cant figure out what in the holy fuck happened in that movie. Aaron, i can imagine no way in which this thing could be considered anywhere remotely close to safe. The perils and paradoxes of restricted time travel. I do intend to create a writeup which explains the full sequence of events in the movie, but here, first, is some prerequisite knowledge. Maybe if youre nice, theyll explain the ending to you.
Initially they plan to use it just to make money off the stock market, but with a week everything. We mark the release of upstream color by looking at writerdirector shane carruths debut primer, the dense and confusing story of two scientists who accidentally create a time machine in their garage. The debut feature from filmmaker shane carruth who wrote, directed, photographed, edited, scored, and stars primer is a psychological scifi thriller about a group of four tech entrepreneurs. Also, the debriefings in someones kitchen, the funding woes, i cant see another movie where this sort of things are better represented. This movie has been compared to 2001 because of the scifi angle. But i love primer and ive studied it for many years. The film doesnt have them explaining each other things they already know, as is often done to get the spectators tagging along. This work is licensed under a creative commons attributionnoncommercial 2. Primer is one crazy movie, as far as the complicated plot goes. Aug 22, 2008 some time ago, freelancer recommended primer to me somewhere in the comments of this blog. Primer 2004 time travel generally gets depicted in the movies as a form of magic. Oboogie takes a deeper look at the twisted tale of multiple timelines that. Theyre not in the front of the line anymore and theyre living in someones past, to be secondary in that world. Primer movie scene by scene explanation francis shanahan.
He continues to explain how he encountered, fought, and was subdued by a previous version of. Primer is a mind bending science fiction film with one of the most challenging plot lines to follow. Many time travel stories depend on invoking either nostalgia for longpassed days or dystopian fear of distant futures. Put it on your ipod and listen while you watch the movie. Its the story of dave who lives on a dump yard with his pet.
But for all its weirdness and indeed barking madness, primer is a glorious rebuke to a dumbeddown movie world in which scientific and technological. To put someone else in the position where theyre not sure theyre in control of anything. He also produced it, edited it and worked on the production design. In a new york times interview, carruth said he filmed largely in his own garage, and at times he was no more sure what he was creating than his characters were. Shane carruths primer opens with four techheads addressing. It is a film that makes inception look like a pizza commercial. In inception, christopher nolan wasnt content to use his modestly clever idea once. Primer movie simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
It covers most of whats explained below, but has some new stuff too. I found this movie to be fairly challenging, but worth the ride. This weekend i rented primer, an awesome indie film by shane carruth that won the sundance film festival and took over my entire weekend. Shane carruths 2004 film primer, in which it is not easy to.
Richard feynman has some interesting ideas about time. This means youre free to copy and share these comics but not to sell them. An incredible achievement on such a low budget, primer gives us a bromance disintegrating under pressure, wrapped in a complex timetravel suspense story. It only serves to further the audiences growing confusion.
It is about a group of engineers who discover a way to travel through time, but only in one direction backwards and only at the speed of regular time i. I dont recall the exact post, but the movie landed on my to watch list. But while the movie has one scifi element in it the device, the movie isnt even about that. The films gained a cult following, and a few people have made. The character just sound like they talk to each other, not to the spectator. Some of his family members and friends are also in it. This is due to the fact that we only see a small part of the actual happenings in the story, and the scenes are not in a chronologically correct order.
May 27, 2005 this movie has been compared to 2001 because of the scifi angle. Can someone explain the sequence of events in primer. Still others depend on farfetched occurrences andor special effects to achieve their goal. I was once told that its because multiple vocals of this era were done live through a single mic rather than overdubbed one at a time, and the layers of harmonies disturb the hair in such a way that it causes this quality. He continues to explain how he encountered, fought, and was subdued by a previous version of himself who used the failsafe to come back and make recordings after drugging the original aaron. He believes that if you hang around a dump long enough, the world will come to you. This article is intended to help you get the most enjoyment out of watching it. Primer is an american independent science fiction drama. Primer is an exceedingly complex and sophisticated movie and much exposition was omitted from the final cut for the sake of brevity. Abe and aaron wonder, too, and what seems at first like a perfectly straightforward method for using the machine turns out to be alarmingly complicated. Ive got a pretty good handle on the films most important points. Primer is a very complex movie and hardtoimpossible to understand in the first watching.
Shot with considerable artistry which belies its resolutely unglamorous approach to science, lending itself to naturalism and an air of realism rarely seen in science fiction. My main reaction to the movie is like what i felt about inception, although for a different reason. They had a great concept for a movie but never clearly explained it in the movie itself. It is vital that you understand the basic rules of time travel within the film as your whole understanding of the film itself depends on it. Aaron then reveals that he has been using a recording to recite their conversation from an earlier time.
Not surprisingly, then, carruths success story is the next installment of our getting smart with story structure series, in which we invite you to analyze a film to discover how it works. Shane carruths mindbending primer is having none of that. Primer 2004 is an american science fiction film about the accidental invention of time travel. The last box is a movie called primer from 2004, which became a cult classic. Can anyone explain to me what all happened in primer. Yet he explained everything at every step of the way, so his dreamwithinadream recursion became surprisingly boring. Movie plot ending explained primer is a long lost movie that only has a cult following. Primer 2004 explained primer is a great time travel tale, but also happens to be one of the most confusing movies ever made.
It covers most of whats explained below, but has some. But the complexity of the movie primer doesnt end there. The basic concept in the movie itself is very difficult to grasp. Primer is a long lost movie that only has a cult following. I was once told that its because multiple vocals of this era were done live through a single mic rather than overdubbed one at a time, and the layers of harmonies disturb the hair in. Offical primer movie site includes trailer for the movie as well as still photos. Some time ago, freelancer recommended primer to me somewhere in the comments of this blog. Primer 2004 four friendsfledgling entrepreneurs, knowing that theres something bigger and more innovative than the different errorchecking devices theyve built, wrestle over their new invention. Just watched 2004s primer again last night and slept on it. Primer explained timeline image diagrams lets start off with a visual explanation with how time travel works in primer. Primer is an american independent science fiction drama film about the accidental discovery of time travel. Once aaron gets to the point where he exits the failsafe and turns it off, he will gain control of the primer universe. Primer is the most realistic and complicated time travel. The movie ends with the shot of one of the aarons and a team of frenchspeaking workers begin construction on.
The thing that is most important is to feel like youre at the front of the line, to be prime or primer. Primer won sundance in 2004 and it was released later that year or 2005. The entire movie is set as if we are eavesdropping on the conversations of the charac. Review of the time travel movie primer 2004 directed and written by shane carruth. Primer is a puzzle film that will leave you wondering about paradoxes, loopholes, loose ends, events without explanation, chronologies that dont seem to fit. Its about these two guys, and how it affects them individually, and their relationship with one another. Basically, the 2004 movie primer is about two engineers, aaron and abe, who accidentally make a machine that allows them to travel backwards in time. Friends and fledgling entrepreneurs invent a device in their garage which reduces the apparent mass of any object placed inside it, but they discover that it has some highly unexpected capabilities ones that could enable them to do and to have seemingly anything they want.
Characters might toss around jargon like wormhole and flux capacitor, but the idea is basically abracadabra. While plenty of detailed articles exist explaining primer, many of them can be extremely complex and serve only to confound the reader further. At most, abe can only travel back in time 15 minutes later than aaron because of the 15 minute delay switch. Aug 27, 2012 primer and the handwriting of time travelers. Primer won the award for best drama at sundance 2004. Primer 2004 is about two entrepreneurial creators who set out to create a project bigger than any they have built before. Im charmed beyond belief by a man and his friends willing this movie into. The dump is episode 9 from the netflix series love, death and robots. Primer is the most realistic science fiction movie ive ever seen, and hands down the best time travel movie of all time. Taking advantage of this unique opportunity is the first challenge they face. It was made by shane carruth who also wrote the story and acted in it. While no one in the film travels into the past and kills anyone, the repercussions of the actions of the timetraveling characters in primer still have huge narrative consequences that are.
It is about friends who accidentally discover a way to time travel. What happens if it actually works friendsfledgling entrepreneurs invent a device in their garage that reduces the apparent mass of any object placed inside it, but they accidentally discover that it has some highly unexpected capabilitiesones that could enable them to do and to have seemingly anything they want. It was made by shane carruth who also wrote the story. The film was written, directed, produced, edited and scored by shane carruth, who also stars with david sullivan. The movie never looks cheap, because every shot looks as it must look. The films gained a cult following, and a few people have made some admirable attempts to deconstruct its complicated timetravelrelated plot. While no one in the film travels into the past and kills anyone, the repercussions of the actions of. I just wanted to say, thanks a lot buddy you practically broke my brain with this thing. He is a pretentious pseudointellectual who likes to talk about movies because artistic. Almost without exception, the journey itself is instantaneous. The following explanation is intended to clear up some of the confusion and help you make general sense of the movie. All i know is i spent six hours in there and im still alive. What is a simple way of understanding the plot of primer.
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