Primer: Genius … ?

26th March, 2013.

You know, I have to confess, I think — think — that title’s quite possibly right.

You see, I’ve just rented the little science-fiction film, Primer, from the iTunes store.

As you might just have guessed from the poster.

And I’m thinking, here, that it’s possibly a work of genius: because I’m — frankly — wondering what else to call it … 

Hmmm … let me sleep on that, folks … !

~≈§≈~

27th March, 2013.

Busy, busy, busy … !

But I think I can say I’ve slept on Primer*.

And … ?

Well … 

Primer tells the story of a pair of engineering students — Aaron and Abe, played by Shane Carruth and David Sullivan — who, along with friends Robert and Phillip, meet regularly to brainstorm new ideas that they can patent.

And, in the finest tradition of garage engineers, everywhere, making a fortune on the lines of Wozniak and Jobs, or Hewlett and Packard.

That’s not quite the way things goes, though.

Abe and Aaron initially start working on a box-like machine for reducing an object’s mass.

Which turns out not to reduce mass.

No … 

It turns out what they’ve accidentally invented is a time-machine: something the pair use to milk the stock market.

Much as it’s tempting to say “With Hysterical Results” … it’s really not.

Not when the pair realise they’ve got tangled up in their complicated time-loop … 

~≈§≈~

Now, I’m actually going to be perfectly frank, here, if I may … ?

I really couldn’t tell you whether Primer is a work of genius.   Or otherwise, frankly.

But I am pretty sure the film is something of a gem: that I, for one, feel is worth you spending some time with.

With a 77 minute run time, this is a film that, had I the money, I would want to buy.   Primer is an intellectually dense film that I’m — as I write — watching again on my iPod.   Given that it’s a film one needs to pay attention to, buying it would allow me to watch it as many times as possible: it’s complicated, as well as watchable.

Given that … ?

I think I have to give Primer a four star rating …

Primer

★★★★

*        I should add, at this point, I managed to work out how to turn on my iPod’s closed caption switch.   For those of us watching a closed captioned film the same way — via and iPod Touch running iOS 6.x or higher — you’ll need to go to Settings>Video and set the Closed Caption switch to ‘On’.   I hope that helps.