On the Big Board |
| Position |
Staff |
In Brief |
| 2/133 |
Dan Krovich |
Complex and compelling |
| 16/55 |
Reagen Sulewski |
If I understand what's going on here, and I'd like to think that I do, I'm very very impressed and dumbfounded all at the same time. |
"You're talking about making a bigger one. You are talking about making a bigger one."
What is essential? That is the rhetorical question posited at the start of the trailer for this movie. There are five answers suggested: air, water, food, shelter and safety. It's the last suggestion that is marked off as the first accomplishment. From there, a new inquiry is made. What is wanted? The new checklist includes friends, a wife, a child and a home.
It is the final line of interrogation, though, that comprises the philosophy of the movie, Primer. What is truly wanted? The answers could be money, power, knowledge, reputation, time, control, justice, direction, wonder, praise, clarity, acclaim, autonomy, or even proof. But they're not. The answer is to repair it all.
What does all this mean? Well, I don't rightly know, but I suspect that it involves an invention by four scientists. The men who have become quite successful in the creation of error checking devices stumble upon an invention so novel that its very existence plants seeds of discord between the friends. Once they have introduced a innovation light years beyond anything the human race has ever known, the four gentlemen are faced with all of the emotions that symbolize our race. There is the fear of what they have wrought, the greed of how best to capitalize on it financially, and the desire to harness its power. As the tagline of the movie states, "If you always want what you can't have, what do you want when you can have anything?"
Shot on a jaw-dropping budget of only $7,000, Primer was the sensation of the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. The Super 16mm filmed production came out of nowhere to bag the dramatic Grand Jury Prize. It is the cinematic equivalent of your local high school football team winning the Super Bowl. Given the spectacle of this upstart coming out of nowhere to take home the trophy, it's arguable that a film about the making of Primer would prove too unbelievable as a story. That's reason enough to be intrigued about this production. The fact that it's by most accounts a cerebral attack on existentialism and what defines our humanity is just icing.
What is truly wanted? Find out when Primer is released in your area. (David Mumpower/BOP)
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