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Primer

6.1

28,658

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Original title: Primer
Year: 2004
Running time: 78 min.
Country: United States
Director: Shane Carruth
Screenwriter: Shane Carruth
Music: Shane Carruth
Cinematography: Shane Carruth, Anand Upadhyaya
Cast: David Sullivan, Shane Carruth, Casey Gooden, Carrie Crawford, Anand Upadhyaya, Samantha Thomson
Producer: Shane Carruth
Genre: Sci-Fi. Thriller | Independent Film (US). Cult Movie. Time Travel. Mathematics
Synopsis / Plot: Made with a small budget of 7,000 US dollars, “PRIMER" follows four suburbia inventors who by accident discover a mechanism with the ability to time-travel.

Awards: 2004: Sundance Film Festival: Grand Jury prize - Best Movie

2004: Independent Spirit Awards: 4 Nominations including Best Film & Best Director

Critics' reviews

"'Primer' is the kind of movie likely to inspire both imitators and cultists.(...) Carruth has invented something fascinating"

A. O. Scott: The New York Times
"It is maddening, fascinating and completely successful (…) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)"

Roger Ebert: rogerebert.com
"'Primer' is undeniably geek heaven. For everyone else, it’s a nice antidote to big-budget bogusness."

Carina Chocano: Los Angeles Times
"[Carruth] can be forgiven for the project's structural weaknesses, but the engineer in him should know better. Any machine (or movie) that uses up more energy than it generates will eventually run out of steam"

Michael O'Sullivan: The Washington Post
"An alluringly knotty indie that dramatizes scientific discovery so that the process looks arcane and sexy but also mundane and accessible."

Lisa Schwarzbaum: Entertainment Weekly
"Carruth creates a homemade wonder out of available materials (...) As a riddle, 'Primer' gains its seductive power by leaving the solution tantalizingly out of reach."

Scott Tobias: AV Club
"An impressive debut (...) This is scary, puzzling, and different."

J.R. Jones: Chicago Reader
Show 2 more reviews

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Ranking Lists Position

11 The Weirdest Movies I Have Ever Watched (188)
42 Weird Films I Actually Love - Not Everybody's Thing (12)
47 My Top 10 Movies from 2004 (66)
50 Movies I Want to Watch (old releases) (3252)
53 Little Gems: Little Known Movies I've Discovered (57)
95 My Favorite Cult Classics (86)

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