Primer (2004)

Editor's Note Former engineer Shane Carruth announces himself as a force to watch with PRIMER, his first film. Carruth wrote, directed, edited, produced, photographed, scored, and stars in the film, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. He plays Aaron, who, with his business partner and best friend, Abe (David Sullivan), experiments with a device that seems to have more power than they could ever have imagined. Playing with batteries, refrigeration, and other techniques and materials in Aaron's garage, they discover that their machine just might have the ability to move back in time. Originally dealing with Weebles figures and wristwatches, Aaron and Abe are soon considering making a box large enough to transport a human being--with remarkable results. An indie hit, PRIMER was made for about $7,000. Carruth shot the film with a purposefully grainy look, as if it were made in the 1970s. The retro feel works well with the futuristic elements of the story, which lead Abe and Aaron to question reality, truth, and their own physical and mental being. Because he learned about film on his own without going to film school or making any previous shorts, Carruth brings a freshness to the genre that is invigorating, with unexpected plot twists and complex narratives that invite multiple viewings. PRIMER is an unusual, unique, challenging, and thoroughly entertaining movie.

	John Carruth
	Shane Carruth
	Carrie Crawford
	David Sullivan
	Anand Upadbyaya
	Jay Butler
	Casey Gooden
	Samantha Thomson
	Shane Carruth - Screenwriter
	Anand Upadbyaya - Director of Photography
	Shane Carruth - Composer
	Shane Carruth - Producer
	Shane Carruth - Director of Photography
	Shane Carruth - Director

Entertainment Weekly
"[A]n alluringly knotty feature....[A] coolly ragged, adventurous project..." 10/15/2004 p.54

New York Times
"[A]n ingenious movie about the perils of ingenuity....The film is, technically speaking, science fiction, but of an unusually rigorous and unassuming kind." 10/08/2004 p.E20

Los Angeles Times
"PRIMER is one of those movies that's legendary on impact thanks to its felicitous combination of ingenuity, independence and dirt-cheapness." 10/22/2004 p.E4

Movieline's Hollywood Life
"[I]t's eminently watchable because writer-director Shane Carruth has an ear for the way hyperactive techies actually talk." 12/01/2004 p.103

Entertainment Weekly
"[T]he key to unlocking PRIMER is abandoning any attempt to solve the cinematic Rubik's Cube, and simply reveling in the inspired indie filmmaking." 04/22/2005 p.50

Uncut
"Carruth, both as an actor and as a one-man film industry, displays a meticulous attention to detail..." 09/01/2005 p.139

Sight and Sound
"Carruth can certainly stand comparison with the early David Cronenberg, another scientist turned filmmaker with a similar gift for transforming dry theoretical concepts into unexpectedly involving drama." 09/01/2005 p.76

Uncut
Ranked #27 in Uncut's Best Films Of 2005 -- "Shane Carruth's debut is a lo-fi brainteaser, rich in complex conundrums and mind-warping physics..." 01/01/2006 p.82-83