No, I didn’t type that wrong. This is not about Grenz’ book. I haven’t read it, and don’t really plan to. Nothing against Grenz. I’ve heard nothing but wonderful things about the man’s writings, I’m just not so sure that I need to read yet another academic traetment of the cultural shift of post-modernism.
What I’m really talking about is the movie Primer. It won Sundance for Best Drama a year ago, and I’ve been waiting to see it since I first heard that Caleb Carruth’s brother was making an indie movie. I finally rented it this past weekend and watched it on the aforementioned “bad day”. It’s a great, great movie. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it. Actually, if you haven’t seen it, you should probably stop reading this.
No, seriously. If you haven’t seen the movie, stop here. I don’t want to ruin it for you. One thing tho…after you see it, read this before you watch it 5 more times.
The thing I really loved about this movie is that it’s not about what it seems to be about. It looks like a time-travel movie. It looks like it’s about time-travel gone wrong. It looks like an intricately tangled web of multiple doubles and different timelines. It looks like the kind of movie you need to go back and re-watch 15 times so that you can plot out all of the permutations on one big graph. But I think you’d totally miss the point.
I actually only watched 10 minutes of the director’s commentary, but what Shane said shocked me. He said that his first inclination was not to make a movie about time-travel and science fiction and other two-word cliches. He wanted to make a movie about trust. It’s about what happens when two people don’t trust each other: the degenerative nature of power and secrecy. That’s why Abe and Aaron keep the machine a secret from their other partners and Aaron’s wife.
That’s why you suddenly find out 2/3rds of the way through that the guy you thought was Aaron was actually Aaron2 (with his little earpiece recording the conversation). That sequence really just seals it for me, as Abe keeps telling Aaron that he’s not tricking him and not trying to fool him. The whole time, Abe is talking to a double. The irony is great.
The rest of the movie is supposed to be a spiral. You’re not supposed to know who is who when and why. You’re supposed to see that each time Abe and Aaron try (individually) to fix things, they just screw it up even further. They keep jumping in their boxes, and finally into their failsafe boxes and recycled boxes, hoping to wipe the slate clean (hence the movie title), but neither can do it. Both end up shocked at what behavior they are now capable of (attacking their doubles, etc). Which brings us to the real conclusion of the movie, with Abe(x) and Aaron(x) at the airport going their seperate ways. Abe(x) is sabotaging the double’s machines, and Aaron(x) believes that Abe(x) is just hanging around to get close to his wife.
So what does this have to do with postmodernism? I just find it amazing that Shane wrote a movie where you could watch it over and over again and totally miss the real point. More than that, I find it amazing that this central theme is just hidden enough thoughout the entire movie.
Tim,
Do you know if Shane is a christian? I know his Caleb is, and figure his parents are since they basically own independentbands.com…
Just curious if he is as well.
btw,
Thanks for the review. It’s a great eye-opener.
Richard, thanks for the reply. I really don’t know if Shane’s a Christian. My gut reaction from watching the movie is that he is, reason being that there is no cussing or anything in the movie (I’m still not sure at all where the “brief language” was that made this movie rated R). That being said, PRIMER would have to be a commentary on depraved lack of trust, as there’s no notion of Christian community anywhere in the movie. It is interesting that Abe and Aaron (and their business partners) seem to have a great relationship before it all goes to pot, but there’s no brotherly accountability to keep it in check.
I read a couple of interviews with him, and found that he is. Most explicit was an interview in Christianity Today, where he said, “I’m a Christian, I was raised in the church, and for a long while I’ve been very devoted to my quiet times, where I meditate on the Bible.”
So, yeah. I am so incredibly encouraged by that… a christian making a really good film. Wow.
I know I’m postmillennial and all… but I’m still a little surprised by that.
[...] cament. Tells a good story, and teaches valuable lessons as well. My friend Tim wrote a very good review. Be sure you watch the film before reading it, th [...]
Primer
PRIMER is set in the industrial park/suburban tract-home fringes of an unnamed contemporary city where two young engineers, Abe and Aaron, are members of a small group of men who work by day for a large corporation while conducting extracurricular ex…