Movies : Primer
If you don't have time to read my blathering today, take one thing away from this post : See Primer if you haven't already.
I've been watching more movies lately as I finally broke down and got a Netflix account. While I have seen a fair number of pretty good films, I am reminded that Sturgeon's Law is in fact quite true. Not to mention that in an era where "science fiction" seems to mean "tits and explosions, but they're in space" it seems that really good science fiction has been hard to find, at least in the cinema. Still, there are good movies to be found if you look hard enough, and one of the best that I've seen recently is an obscure independent film called Primer.
Primer is about a couple engineers producing computer parts out of their garage and then trying to take things to the next level. They attempt an experiment with superconductive materials and are surprised by anomalies in their test results; further examination of the data reveals that they have created a device that may well allow them to travel through time. Once they've confirmed that this is the case, they ask themselves "what do we do with this?" Instead of bewildered disbelief and grandiose plans, they approach the use and circumstances surrounding their time machine in a fairly convincing manner; they're actually aware of time travel stories in popular culture and approach the situation as carefully as they can.
Also, the fairly natural dialogue of the movie is something I appreciated; people interrupt each other. They speak in jargon without explaining it to the audience. Between this and their fairly believable reactions to the situation as a whole, the character became very human and believable. It's also nice to see that the entire story was moved along by the characters instead of increasingly implausible situations. There's no villain or monster waiting to devour them. There's no plot to assassinate a famous leader or anything like that -- it's all about the people and one great big "what if?"
Anyhow, I really liked this movie and don't want to go into it too much for fear of revealing the plot. Suffice to say, I really liked it and recommend taking the time to watch it twice.
I've been watching more movies lately as I finally broke down and got a Netflix account. While I have seen a fair number of pretty good films, I am reminded that Sturgeon's Law is in fact quite true. Not to mention that in an era where "science fiction" seems to mean "tits and explosions, but they're in space" it seems that really good science fiction has been hard to find, at least in the cinema. Still, there are good movies to be found if you look hard enough, and one of the best that I've seen recently is an obscure independent film called Primer.
Primer is about a couple engineers producing computer parts out of their garage and then trying to take things to the next level. They attempt an experiment with superconductive materials and are surprised by anomalies in their test results; further examination of the data reveals that they have created a device that may well allow them to travel through time. Once they've confirmed that this is the case, they ask themselves "what do we do with this?" Instead of bewildered disbelief and grandiose plans, they approach the use and circumstances surrounding their time machine in a fairly convincing manner; they're actually aware of time travel stories in popular culture and approach the situation as carefully as they can.
Also, the fairly natural dialogue of the movie is something I appreciated; people interrupt each other. They speak in jargon without explaining it to the audience. Between this and their fairly believable reactions to the situation as a whole, the character became very human and believable. It's also nice to see that the entire story was moved along by the characters instead of increasingly implausible situations. There's no villain or monster waiting to devour them. There's no plot to assassinate a famous leader or anything like that -- it's all about the people and one great big "what if?"
Anyhow, I really liked this movie and don't want to go into it too much for fear of revealing the plot. Suffice to say, I really liked it and recommend taking the time to watch it twice.
Labels: movies
posted by Spook at 5:14 AM
2 Comments:
I read your blathering today. Sounds really interesting.
Cool, let me know how you like it if you see it.
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