Primer (film)

Primer is a 2004 independent film written, directed, produced by and starring Shane Carruth. A sci-fi puzzle thriller, it explores the effects of an accidental invention on its two creators.

Famously produced for $7000, the film played at festivals, collecting the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 2004, before receiving a limited release. It has since been released to DVD.

The film is unusual in that Carruth, a former engineer who immersed himself in the study of physics while writing the screenplay, makes little effort to explain or "dumb down" the physics theory-laden conversations of the protagonists. He also does not explicitly spell out what is happening in the film nor exactly what the device the young inventors create does, leading one reviewer to claim that "Anybody who claims they fully understand what's going on in Primer after seeing it just once is either a savant or a liar."