Prepare to be Mystified

My regular film-going companion and I have different tastes, which gives rise to some post-viewing heated discussions . I think that this is the first time we’ve spent most of the journey home trying to clarify what we think actually happened. To say 'Primer' is obscure is a vast understatement. In fact, I spent the first half hour or so of the movie not even understanding most of the dialogue, which, as it occurred between or among these computer city slicker nerds didn’t bother me too much. I’m not one of these people who like to guess in advance what’s going to happen; in fact I’ve usually read some spoiler review, so there are few plot surprises. In this case, I would have been greatly advantaged, and couldn’t wait to consult a synopsis to find out if my companion and I had unravelled most of its components. Only partially, is the answer. In fact, there was a whole last sequence, according to the Sight and Sound Synopsis I read, that we completely missed. It wouldn’t have surprised me if I’d dozed off during the gobbledy-gook, and I did close my eyes a couple of times when the early scenes were just too bright and blurry, but I was fully awake at the end, having some slight grasp, waiting to be enlightened. It’s too much to hope the film was cut by some kind distributor who thought an audience could take only so much unreality. If this is what comes of low budget film-making by an engineer/mathematician using amateur actors and shooting mostly in his garage, come back Disney,all is forgiven. Oh, the plot is something to do with time-travel and/or cloning. I think it’s meant to be deep/clever.

Hey Cornelia

So glad you got to see this one before me so I wasn't tempted to try to review it. Thanks for the review: my wavering about seeing it is perhaps resolved, though of course the challenge might force me to try......

Most reviewers seem to have come to your own sensible conclusion. I think we have a new genre of movies: the 'garage' movie i.e. nerdy, adolescent, and 'in'.

Thanks again.

regards

Zettel

I must say I'm quite surprised to read a review on an author's website, seeming to criticise a film for it's complexity...

One of the things I found so charming about this film was it's unforgiving nature. It took a look at the 'reality' of time-travel and so-called 'grandfather paradoxes'.

Now having read a fair few books on time-travel in my time, I have always been dissapointed by the 'cop-outs' that authors will use to prop up an unwillingness to explore the full ramifications of time-travel. Don't get me wrong - I realise it's an incredibly complex issue, and intensely unintuitive to consider. I don't really *blame* authors' cutting corners where intuitive understanding fails them. However the depth of consideration given to the plot and presentation of the concept in 'Primer' seriously impressed me.

(I suppose it's like saying 'I'm not dissapointed by dogs that can't fly, but the one I saw that could fly really impressed me'.)

Primer is a difficult movie to grasp, it is one you will almost certainly have to re-watch to fully comprehend. Even then you will have to pay close attention and keep an open mind. However, the reward for doing so is an improved understanding of the nature of paradoxes, or at least, one understanding of paradoxes.

The way I see it is that as a writer, anything that improves or expands your understanding of the world must be a good thing.

Yes, you are right, and I'm willing to give most films ago at least once, sometimes several times over when I suspect I didn't appreciate all the complexities. There are films which shroud themselves in portentousness that really disguises an emptiness at the centre, and this is one of them.

Time travel a reality? I don't think so, but keep me posted.

Sheila

Well, you've drawn my attention to my poor choice of words in the response, certainly. I should have said 'time travel a plausability'.

That's what this film conveyed well, or so I thought.

I'm not sure where the 'emptiness' you descibe resides. This film had an interesting concept (time-travel being revisionist in nature). A human plot (love, however miguided). Intrigue (how did that chap get back to stalk them?) and some brain-food (how many timelines?).

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this is the best film since Casablanca, but I certainly wouldn't feel cheated paying Leicester Square prices to see it either...