What does that? “Primer”

Shane Carruth’s film Primer generated a modest amount of buzz when it won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film festival in 2004, but by-and-large vanished from the radar after that. Much of the excitement over the film was generated by the fact that writer/director/star Carruth made the movie for $7000 and shot on 16mm film. This looks past the fact that Primer is also a first-rate brain-teaser, easily one of the smartest movies made in the 21^st century, which still retains a solid emotional core. It’s a movie that bears—demands—repeated viewings in order to try and make sense of its story. I’m on viewing number four and I’m still glad I don’t have to try and explain the plot. Oh, wait…aw dammit!