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Primer (2004) 6.9
Ratings:
6.9/10 from 36,034 users
Metascore: 68/100
Reviews: 288 user | 127 critic | 25 from Metacritic.com Four friends/fledgling entrepreneurs, knowing that there's something bigger and more innovative than the different error-checking devices they've built, wrestle over their new invention. Director:Shane CarruthWriter:Shane Carruth |
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Title: Primer (2004)
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Edit
Cast
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Shane Carruth | ... |
Aaron
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| David Sullivan | ... |
Abe
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| Casey Gooden | ... |
Robert
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| Anand Upadhyaya | ... |
Phillip
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Carrie Crawford | ... |
Kara
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Jay Butler | ... |
Metalshop Worker
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John Carruth | ... |
Man On Couch #1
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Juan Tapia | ... |
Man On Couch #2
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Ashley Warren | ... |
Hostess
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| Samantha Thomson | ... |
Rachel Granger
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Chip Carruth | ... |
Thomas Granger
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Delaney Price | ... |
Laney
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Jack Pyland | ... |
Aaron's Co-worker
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Keith Bradshaw | ... |
Clean Room Technician
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Ashok Upadhyaya | ... |
Laboratory Technician
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Edit
Plot Summary
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Plot Synopsis
Storyline
At night and on weekends, four men in a suburban garage have built a cottage industry of error-checking devices. But, they know that there is something more. There is some idea, some mechanism, some accidental side effect that is standing between them and a pure leap of innovation. And so, through trial and error they are building the device that is missing most. However, two of these men find the device and immediately realize that it is too valuable to market. The limit of their trust in each other is strained when they are faced with the question, If you always want what you can't have, what do you want when you can have anything? Written by Sujit R. Varma
Taglines:
If you always want what you can't have, what do you want when you can have anything? See more »Parents Guide:
View content advisory »
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See more »
See full technical specs »
Details
Country:
USALanguage:
EnglishRelease Date:
27 May 2005 (Spain) See more »Also Known As:
Találmány See more »Box Office
Budget:
$7,000 (estimated)Opening Weekend:
$28,162 (USA) (8 October 2004)Gross:
$424,760 (USA) (17 December 2004)Company Credits
Show detailed
company contact information
on
IMDbPro »
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Sound Mix:
StereoColor:
ColorAspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1
Edit
Aaron: [Sound of a phone ringing. Aaron, voiceover:] Here's what's going to happen. I'm gonna read this, and you're gonna listen, and you're gonna stay on the line. And you're not gonna interrupt, and you're not gonna speak for any reason. Some of this you know. I'm gonna start at the top of the page.
[pause]
Aaron: Meticulous, yes. Methodical, educated; they were these things. Nothing extreme. Like anyone, they varied. There were days of mistakes and laziness and in-fighting, and there were days,...
See more »
Director Esteban Corzo took inspiration from Primer to make a high concept story with the lowest resources. See more »
Did You Know?
Trivia
The device in the movie is a person-sized, metal box that hums. One scene features Abe and Aaron standing behind some trees, as they watch themselves enter a U-Haul Storage facility. This scene was filmed in Carrollton, TX (a suburb of Dallas, TX), and in 2005 these trees were cleared to build a Hummer dealership. See more »Goofs
Boom shadow is visible on the truck door when Abe and Aaron are at the gas station. See more »Quotes
[first lines]Aaron: [Sound of a phone ringing. Aaron, voiceover:] Here's what's going to happen. I'm gonna read this, and you're gonna listen, and you're gonna stay on the line. And you're not gonna interrupt, and you're not gonna speak for any reason. Some of this you know. I'm gonna start at the top of the page.
[pause]
Aaron: Meticulous, yes. Methodical, educated; they were these things. Nothing extreme. Like anyone, they varied. There were days of mistakes and laziness and in-fighting, and there were days,...
See more »
Crazy Credits
Thanks to Scott Douglass for having the faith to invest in the final stages of marketing and post production See more »Connections
Referenced in Encrucijada (2012)Director Esteban Corzo took inspiration from Primer to make a high concept story with the lowest resources. See more »
You remember the first time you saw The Matrix (please, not the awful sequels) and you could barely keep up with what was going on, trying to piece together the pieces of what you were being told into a coherent story?
This movie was exactly like that. The first half or so is fairly linear (despite the frenzied Altman-esque style of everyone talking on top of each other), but then it gets WEIRD and it just absolutely blew me away. This film won a major Sundance award, and normally that means I won't like it (especially the normally pandering audience award winners) but this movie, and first-time filmmaker Shane Carruth, deserves absolutely everything it gets. I am just blown away.
Did you like Pi? If so, go see this one.
By the way, the attention to detail in the beginning is great. Often in thrillers with technical content, if you have a technical education you have consciously ignore all the stupid movie crud that they pull to make it into a good story. But this movie pulls off an incredibly believable technical story, with only a few distracting gaffs. That is, the tech jargon is good enough that you don't get distracted and can focus on the story line.
Final comment: Yes, it is very hard to follow the story line in this movie.
Obviously I'm not going to spoil it, but I think the following fact will help when the movie gets kind of hairy towards the end: Aaron is the dark-haired guy, Abe is the blond-haired guy.
This movie now has distribution and you should keep an eye out for it in the fall.