By Scott Muoio

Time is Never Time At All

Hypnotically fascinating. Maddeningly confusing. Pretentiously ridiculous. The no-budget science-fiction time travel mystery Primer is all of these things, for better and worse.

Using mundane technical jargon and adequately bad acting, Primer tells the story of two engineer buddies that use their free time to conduct garage experiments. The gist of their testing involves computer processors, wires, coils, odd gasses, and a large silver box that eventually yields a startling revelation: it alters the time/space continuum. That macguffin leads to a plethora of disjointed and wholly incomprehensible scenes where the two friends attempt to alter their lives while jousting with one another for the final say in history.

While the set-up is nothing new, Primer differs from its peers by stripping all semblance of shimmer, shine, and ease of comprehension from its execution. These modifications result in a gritty who-done-it and what-did-he-do feel that allows the viewer to understand the circumstances and consequences of the discovery at the same time the characters attempt to make sense and utilize those same findings. The result is a believable look at how most of the world’s great inventions come to be: as the happenstance by-product of completely unrelated research.

Unfortunately, however some of Primer’s best aspects are also its worst. These include the absurdly close cinematography, the incomprehensible scientific jargon, the boring acting, the disjointed scenes, and the writer/director/editor’s inability to convey what is happening, why it is happening, and to whom it is happening. By the time the main characters start talking like MBA students rather than engineers the nagging annoyance of two main characters that seem neither adequately intelligent enough nor narcissistically driven enough to make a toaster let alone a time machine gets gratingly intolerable.

The movie’s dead serious tone is another problem, morphing the plot from clever mystery to unnecessarily complex silliness until the wheels eventually fly off. An extended, overwrought climax only makes things worse. It is during the climax where the movie gets confusing to the point where viewer interest wanes in direct proportion to the rising bewilderment. If only the film could have continued its challengingly entertaining approach without grasping at straws to find an appropriate conclusion then it truly could have overcome its impressively miniscule $7,000 budget.

Still, I sort of enjoyed Primer as it deals with time travel in a way that gives it a unique place in the world of science fiction. At its heart it is a film about engineers by engineers and that authenticity is a breath of fresh air. The film isn’t great and it definitely has some severe problems but for those who might enjoy a serious Office Space meets Twelve Monkeys, Primer is right up your alley.

Director: Shane Carruth

Producer: Shane Carruth

Writer: Shane Carruth

Starring: Shane Carruth, David Sullivan

Original Music: Shane Carruth

Cinematographer: Shane Carruth

Editor: Shane Carruth