History Film / Primer

The film opens with two engineers and entrepreneurs, Abe (David Sullivan) and Aaron (Carruth), building tech projects in Aaron's garage. After achieving some success with their latest project -- a room temperature superconductor -- they discover it has an unexpected side-effect: [[TimeMachine creating time loops]]. Everything they place inside the Box exhibits temporal anomalies, proceeding normally then go backwards for a continuously repeating sequence, so that whatever is inside the Box can leave in the present, or at any point in the past.

''Primer'' is a 2004 independent science fiction drama film famous for a number of things:

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Platz is hinted to be one. At first, it seems like he's just your typical BadBoss but a bit of dialog earlier in the movie refers to an event that happened "last year" and one of the characters saying he knew someone with a legal background that knew about "cases like ours." Suggesting Platz took an intellectual property invented by the characters (probably claiming that it was developed on company time with company resources, which is often covered in employment contracts) and kept the profits for himself while cutting out the people who developed it.

* TimeTravelTenseTrouble: "Man, are you hungry? I haven't eaten since later this afternoon."
* VanityProject: Shane Carruth (who plays one of the lead characters named Aaron) wrote, directed, produced, edited and composed the music for this film. However unlike most Vanity Projects, it has [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primer_(film)#Reception managed to earn good reviews and win two awards]]. (And he only acted in the movie after being unable to find anyone who could "break... the habit of filling each line with so much drama.")

* WhamLine: [[spoiler:"I hope you're not implying that any day is unimportant at Cortex Semi." A WhamLine not for the words itself, but for the fact that Aaron says it even though Abe had failed to remember the line that prompted it, revealing that he was reciting the conversation from memory, too]]. The lines before that also count, such as the fact that [[spoiler: Abe has a secret backup time machine which has been running for most of the movie.]]

* TheStoryThatNeverWas: [[spoiler:When the power of TimeTravel proves too dangerous and too confusing for anyone to use, Abe Terger travels back as far as he can and interferes with his past self's experiments, hoping to stop the past versions of himself and Aaron from pursuing time travel any further. The future versions of Abe and Aaron, who went through all that character development, continue existing--since time travel in ''Primer'' results in the travellers cloning themselves unless they're careful to maintain a StableTimeLoop.]]

* TheSlowPath: In ''both'' directions. To go back two hours, you have to sit in the box for two hours. This causes enormous problems when Abe and Aaron use the failsafe boxes. They travel backwards for ''days''.

* MindScrew: Between the multiple time-travels, the non-linear plot and the sea of TechnoBabble that the main characters spout at each other constantly is no wonder that most viewers can't keep things straight. It got to the point where the film actually needed ''[[UpToEleven graphs in order to explain what was happening]]''.

# Its jargon-laden dialogue and [[KudzuPlot experimental structure]] making for some of the nerdiest, [[MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness hardest]], and [[MindScrew most incomprehensible]] science fiction of recent memory.

The film opens with two engineers and entrepreneurs, Abe and Aaron, building tech projects in Aaron's garage. After achieving some success with their latest project -- a room temperature superconductor -- they discover it has an unexpected side-effect: [[TimeMachine creating time loops]]. Everything they place inside the Box exhibits temporal anomalies, proceeding normally then go backwards for a continuously repeating sequence, so that whatever is inside the Box can leave in the present, or at any point in the past.

* ReedRichardsIsUseless: They invent a workable TIME MACHINE and the best use they can think of is to make money in the stock market? It is justified, however, since they're intentionally trying to keep as low a profile as possible (and avoid any possible paradoxes or issues with causality) with their time travel exploits until they fully understand what they're dealing with, and are also trying to raise funds for further experimentation. Besides which, using a time machine for profit is hardly an ''impractical'' use of such a device.

# Its jargon-laden dialogue and [[KudzuPlot experimental structure]] making for some of the [[MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness hardest]], and [[MindScrew most incomprehensible]] science fiction of recent memory.

# Its jargon-laden dialogue and [[KudzuPlot experimental structure]] making for some of the {{nerd}}iest, [[MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness hardest]], and [[MindScrew most incomprehensible]] science fiction of recent memory.

# Its deep, philosophical {{deconstruction}} of TimeTravel [[RealityEnsues in a realistic scenario]].

# Its production being mostly handled ([[CopiouslyCreditedCreator writing, directing, producing, editing, cinematography, music, and a co-starring role]]) by one man -- Shane Carruth.
# Its [[NoBudget shoestring budget]] of $7,000, most of which went towards buying film stock.

# Its deep, philosophical deconstruction of TimeTravel [[RealityEnsues in a realistic scenario.]]
# Its jargon-laden dialogue and [[KudzuPlot experimental structure]] making for some of the {{nerd}}iest, [[MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness hardest]], and [[MindScrew most incomprehensible and mind-numbing]] science fiction of recent memory.

# Its TechnoBabble-laden dialogue and [[KudzuPlot experimental structure]] making for some of the {{nerd}}iest, [[MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness hardest]], and [[MindScrew most incomprehensible and mind-numbing]] science fiction of recent memory.

* SmallRoleBigImpact: Platt and Rachel's psycho ex-boyfriend. Platt's role is so small that [[TheGhost he never actually appears onscreen]], and it's only stated that he stole one of Abe and Aaron's inventions in the past. Their wish to punch Platt in the face then go back in time and stop themselves results in them notices the future Granger and becoming scared that something horrible must have happened in the future that resulted in him finding out about the box. Rachel's ex, meanwhile, only ever appears twice, but he is apparently so insane that he brings a loaded gun to a party full of people and Aaron and Abe spend multiple time-jumps ensuring that he's not just scared off but properly arrested without possibility of coming back.

# Its production being mostly handled ([[CopiouslyCreditedCreator writing, directing, producing, editing, cinematography, music, and a co-starring role]]) by one man -- Shane Carruth
# Its [[NoBudget minuscule budget]] of $7,000, most of which went towards buying film stock
# Its deep, philosophical deconstruction of TimeTravel [[RealityEnsues in a realistic scenario]]
# Its TechnoBabble-laden dialogue and [[KudzuPlot experimental structure]] making for some of the {{nerd}}iest, [[MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness hardest]], and [[MindScrew most incomprehensible]] science fiction of recent memory

The film opens with two engineers and entrepreneurs, Abe and Aaron, building electronics in Aaron's garage. After achieving some success with their latest project -- a room temperature superconductor -- they discover it has an unexpected side-effect: [[TimeMachine creating time loops]]. Everything they place inside the Box runs back and forth through time for roughly 1300 iterations.

[[caption-width-right:350:What if it actually works?]]

''Primer'' is a 2004 independent film, written and directed by Shane Carruth. ([[CopiouslyCreditedCreator Also produced by Shane Carruth, starring Shane Carruth, edited by Shane Carruth, Shane Carruth as director of photography and with a soundtrack composed by Shane Carruth.]]) It was made on [[NoBudget a minuscule budget]] of $7,000, most of which went towards buying film stock. The film is a character-driven drama about two engineers who unexpectedly create a TimeMachine, and an examination of how TimeTravel (and the power it confers) affects them and their friendship.

Quite possibly the single {{nerd}}iest film ever made, and one that brings [[TechnoBabble technical jargon]] to a new art form, it is also one of the most believable via its starkly straightforward presentation.

The film opens with two engineers and entrepreneurs, Abe and Aaron, building electronics in Aaron's garage. After achieving some success with their latest project -- a room temperature superconductor -- they discover it has an unexpected side-effect: creating time loops. Everything they place inside the Box runs back and forth through time for roughly 1300 iterations.

Then something goes wrong. And that's when things get [[TheEndingChangesEverything really confusing]]. The ''plot itself'' is [[KudzuPlot non-linear]]. Most of the plot -- including several crucial events -- is neither shown nor described, just ''{{implied}}''. And on top of that, the characters communicate almost exclusively in dense TechnoBabble.

Shane Carruth later went on to direct (and write, produce, star in, etc.) ''Film/UpstreamColor''.