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I just got back from seeing "Primer" at the Vancouver International Film Festival. I lack sufficent eloquence to describe what I have seen. The movie is intense. Relatively short at 78 minutes long, the intensity makes it feel like hours have elapsed; you will experience time dilation. The film is about a group of engineers who do side projects out of their basement. They stumble upon something amazing, and quickly realise they are far out of their depth. However, not willing to give up, they forge ahead and attempt to reap the rewards of their discovery. What follows is both an enthralling, tense plot that forces you to pay strict attention, and one of the most thoughtful forays into speculative fiction that has ever been put to celluloid.
The film was a pet project of an amateur auteur. It was shot for $7000 on 16mm. Shot frequently without filters, the movie is awash in fluorescent green and tungsten orange. The graininess of the 16mm film, functionally sparse soundtrack and ,appropriately timed, cohesive narration further enriches the solidly indy style. The real hook is the dialouge. Temporally uncertain and abstract, it is at once dramatic, hectic, philosphical, unabashedly technical and darkly comedic. This work absolutely defies categorization and stands in a class of its own--superlative speculative fiction on film. It won the top prize at Sundance this year, and for good reason.
posted
A limited run has been announced in the US for Oct. The dates and cities were posted on the movies's website but that seems to be down right now.
Posts: 1769 | Registered: Feb 2000
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I have at least a partial list of screenings for Oct. and Nov.
quote:October, 8th New York Angelika October, 8th Dallas Grapevine 30 October, 8th Dallas Angelika
October, 15th Huntington, NY Cinema Arts Center October, 15th Boston Kendall 9 October, 15th San Francisco Lumiere October, 15th Berkeley Act I&II October, 15th Philadelphia Ritz Theaters October, 15th Voorhees, NJ Ritz 16 October, 15th Seattle Varsity 3 October, 15th Washington E-Street October, 15th Minneapolis Uptown/Lagoon October, 15th Austin Dobie 4 October, 15th Ft. Worth Hulen 10
October, 16th Olympia, WA Capitol Theater
October, 22nd Portland Fox Tower 10 October, 22nd Los Angeles Nuart October, 22nd Santa Cruz Nickelodeon October, 22nd St. Louis Tivoli 3 October, 22nd San Antonio Huebner Oaks 24 October, 22nd Lubbock, TX Movies 16 October, 22nd El Paso Tinseltown 20 October, 22nd Waco, TX Jewel 16
October, 29th Tucson Catalina 6 October, 29th Atlanta Midtown Art October, 29th San Diego Ken Cinema October, 29th Chicago Century Centre 7 October, 29th Raleigh Colony Twin October, 29th Durham Carolina October, 29th Pittsburgh Squirrel Hill October, 29th Miami South Beach 18 October, 29th Tempe, AZ Valley Art Theater
November 5th Tulsa Southroads November 5th Oklahoma City Quail Springs 24 November 5th Willamston, MA Images November 5th Rochester, NY Little Theater
November 12th Tampa Channelside 9 November 12th Knoxville Downtown West 8 November 12th Nashville Green Hill 16
If this movie gets enough exposure, it will certainly rank as one of the best and most truely cerebral science fiction movies ever made.
Posts: 1769 | Registered: Feb 2000
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posted
I saw it tonight. I loved it - the intensity, the music, the script, the story. This was truly an Asimovian short story set to film.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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Wow, that was pretty intense. It didn't come to Edmonton, so I downloaded it. I'm going to have to watch it again today, as I'm sure there are things that I missed.
www.primermovie.com has a pretty cool forum where Shane Carruth (the director and star) posts fairly often.
As for the DVD, I think it was supposed to come out today, but was apparently bumped back to Aprtil 19th. I can't wait to hear Carruth's commentary.
Posts: 1855 | Registered: Mar 2003
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