Time travel on a budget

I was excited to check out Shane Carruth's Sundance hit Primer (2004). I had heard a lot of good buzz about the film, and I was curious how Carruth effectively managed a engaging film about the science of time travel on a budget of under $10,000. Unfortunately I don't think he managed to accomplish that feat. I mentioned in my review of Paranormal Activity that any film with a micro-budget must be taken into consideration when reviewing it, and I will do the same with this film. After all, Carruth was able to make a cult science classic, that seems to have kept people engaged just solely on the "nerd effect". And what I mean by the "nerd effect" is this movie appeals to those who want to break down the science and or inconsistencies and theorize about what could or would not have happened. For everyone else, I dare say, it was just boring.

Yes the budget was extremely low, and the filmmakers where clever with it at points, but at points it really hurt the film. There is very poor ADR throughout and during moments where seeing duplicates of people in the same scene would have been effective, the budget obviously doesn't allow for that.

I will be the first one to admit that I may be missing something here. But the problem is I am was not engaged enough in the story to even want to go back and re-watch the film. The reason I have these lackluster feelings about Primer is because without interest in the content there is nothing on an emotional level to grab me either. A film I can see it drawing comparisons too is a great film by Darren Aronofsky called Pi. But the reason Pi works and Primer doesn't is because the science and math are secondary to the story and character.

I mentioned earlier that I believe part of the appeal of this film is "the nerd effect" but also I dare say that there may be a few viewers out there that are to ashamed of not understanding it, that might explain a lot of the reviews with the words, "cerebral", "fascinating", "it will keep you wondering".

Yes maybe LOST can take a tip about how to do time travel from Primer, but they certainly shouldn't go to Primer for story, character or content.

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