‘Primer’: Confusing, Yet Worth It
‘Primer’ is written by Shane Carruth, directed by Shane Carruth, and stars, you guessed it, Shane Carruth (+ David Sullivan). It’s known as one of the most complicated sci-fi films ever made and ever since it came out, people have been theorizing and struggling to understand the whole movie.
Naturally, I felt challenged and decided to give this weird sci-fi flick a shot. Initial thoughts: it’s nowhere close to perfect, but it is worth you time.
Just look at the picture above. Don’t try to understand it or anything, simply look at it to get an idea of what I’m talking about. Many people think they’ve understood ‘Primer’, but in reality what they have gotten in simply the essence of the movie. However, there a dozens of small, yet significant details scattered around the story that people to this day have no idea how are connected.
From a filmmaking perspective, ‘Primer’ is extremely flawed. It’s one of those ‘this happens because it happens and we are not going to explain it because we can’t’ films. Sure, the idea and the events are generally interesting, but the whole structure and narrative of the film is very lazy. It’s extremely pretentious, which I absolutely hate in films. It takes itself way too seriously, thinks it’s an amazing production when in reality it’s just mediocre, and believes it conveys some sort of sacred meaning through the story, which it really doesn’t.
And yet, I’m recommending it. Why? Because I think it’s an extremely bold movie, to say the least. Granted, I don’t think it’s a very good production, but I respect the movie deeply. Having the balls to pull something like this off, having the integrity and the ambition to create a feature film that tells a story like this is extremely hard and I can’t deny that I am humbled by it. When one person produces, writes, directs, and stars in a movie like this, that person deserves so much respect. It may not be perfect, but it isn’t bad either, and it was most certainly extremely hard to make.
Also, the plot of ‘Primer’ is extremely original. They have taken a rather common idea in sci-fi films and looked at it from a whole different perspective. The events happening throughout the film are interesting to follow and the general story is very original. I think ‘Primer’ is pretentious and way too complicated to be considered an real feature film, but that doesn’t prevent me from being fascinated by it. And the whole movie is one big brain teaser, really. You constantly strive to understand what’s going on and I found that weirdly fun.
‘Primer’ is one of those films you just have to watch. Like ‘Citizen Kane’, which is famous for being one of the best films ever made, or ‘The Room’, which is so bad you just have to see it, ‘Primer’ is famous as the most complicated sci-fi film ever made. You don’t want to miss out on that and you probably want to know what’s out there that holds this title. It’s one of those films every filmmaker or film fan simply has to see to understand the industry and the art of cinema. ‘Primer’ is deeply flawed and I generally did not enjoy it, but there are some amazing things to it as well. So, if you are looking for something unconventional to watch this weekend, I highly recommend ‘Primer’.
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As always, thank you so much for reading,
Pouty Boy