Friendships can break down for a variety of reasons, but here's a story where the reasons are highly unusual. Abe (David Sullivan) and Aaron (Shane Carruth) were best pals who supplemented their incomes by devising and selling a computer card which assisted in troubleshooting, but this wasn't their pride and joy. With two other associates they had built a machine in Aaron's garage, a machine to make them rich beyond their wildest dreams - but what if their dreams of making it big turned to nightmares of complete control?
A science fiction film for crossword fans, or at least those who appreciate brainteasers, Primer was a time travel film that appeared to have been filmed during a migraine of exhaustion, with even its characters finding the side effects of using their machine to be akin to trying to solve quadratic equations with the mother of all hangovers. It was created on a tiny budget by writer/director/editor/star Shane Carruth, and although not everyone appreciated the mind bending twists the plot went through, there was no denying the lively intelligence behind it.
At first, our two heroes (except one of them might not be exactly heroic) aren't sure what they've invented, much less aware that they've uncovered the secrets of the universe to some degree. Well, by placing a Weeble in the centre of the contraption they manage to grow on it in five days a layer of fungus that would have taken five years to spread, so something is obviously going on timewise. From there it's a step to realising that the Weeble, or whatever they care to place in the field conjured by the machine, is sent into a loop that can be harnessed by the pair: all they need to do is enter the loop and exit at the right moment...
...and they will have been sent back in time. Abe twigs to this first, and explains to the incredulous Aaron, incredulous until he notices Abe's double in the background. So begins a cycle of the men finding they have power over the fourth dimension, hiding in motel rooms so they don't bump into each other and eventually, growing giddy with this new ability. If you thought Primer was complicated before, you ain't seen nothing yet as the duo find themselves at the mercy of their future incarnations, one of whom has an agenda and, by the end of the film, cannot be relied upon anymore.
Don't expect to be able to follow the film on a first viewing, but then, it may well be difficult to follow on subsequent viewings as well. The plotline wraps itself up into so many loops that at some points you have to take it on trust that Carruth knows what he's doing and although there are inevitably unanswered questions it does make its own kind of sense. But when you factor in Abe and Aaron being followed by the man they hoped would be their benefactor, a possible massacre at a party they may or may not prevent, and one of the future selves getting drunk on power and resorting to disturbing levels of control over not only his life but others as well, you have a fearsomely complex illustration of how Godlike influence in the hands of Mankind would go hopelessly to their heads. Music by... yes, that Carruth fellow again.
