Primer (2004)

Director: Shane Carruth

Writer: Shane Carruth

Composer: Shane Carruth

Starring: Shane Carruth, David Sullivan, Casey Gooden, Anand Upadhyaya, Carrie Crawford, Jay Butler, John Carruth, Juan Tapia, Ashley Warren, Samantha Thomson, Chip Carruth

More info: IMDb

Tagline: If you always want what you can't have, what do you want when you can have anything?

Plot: Four friends/fledgling entrepreneurs, knowing that there's something bigger and more innovative than the different error-checking devices they've built, wrestle over their new invention.

My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again?  Yes.

Now I'd heard for years that this is often considered one of the best, thinking man's time travel movies out there.  I finally saw it.  I gave it my full attention and even that wasn't enough.  For the most part I was with it the entire way.  It's pretty easy to follow at first until the time traveling begins and then there's a lot of non-linear stuff going on that almost has you putting a puzzle together where a lot of the pieces look similar but only fit in a specific way.  I had questions at the end and two choices - either watch the movie again, right then and there (or I'd easily forget something if I waited a few days, weeks or months) or see what the Internet says.  I'm lazy and impatient so the Internet won.  Once I read enough of what others had figured out it made more sense.  I've already forgotten (yay, shitty memory) so I'll just have to re-read the explanation just before I watch it again to gain a further appreciation.  It's a good film despite its simple complexity.  The performances are strong as is the music and writing.  PRIMER is heady stuff and I can see how someone would be easily turned off by it.  It's not sexy and it's dry, but it's very good nonetheless.  The New Line DVD looks great and the only extras are two commentary tracks, one from Carruth and another from the cast and crew.  Someday I'll have to hit those