Primer Page #8

Synopsis: Engineers Aaron, Abe, Robert and Phillip are working on an invention, the prototype being built in Aaron's garage. This project is beyond their day jobs. The project truly does belong to Aaron and Abe, as they use all their free time working on it, primarily trying to overcome the many engineering related problems they've encountered. It is during one of his tests with the invention running that Abe discovers that a protein inside the main unit has multiplied much more rapidly than it could in nature. Rather than the invention being a protein super incubator, Abe, using himself as a guinea pig, and a very meticulous one at that, discovers that the invention can be used as a time machine. In his self experiment, Abe was especially careful not to interfere with his own self in that time warp. Abe passes along this discovery to Aaron, who he expects will tell his wife Kara in what is the sanctity of their marriage, but he doesn't want to tell either Robert or Phillip. Much to Abe's surpri
Director(s): Shane Carruth
Production: ThinkFilm
  3 wins & 7 nominations.
 
IMDB:
6.9
Metacritic:
68
Rotten Tomatoes:
72%
PG-13
Year:
2004
77 min
$392,420
Website
4,852 Views


the actuality,

the last revision is what counts, apparently.

So how many times did it take Aaron...

as he cycled

through the same conversations...

lip-synching trivia over and over?

How many times would it take

before he got it right?

Three? Four?

Twenty?

I've decided to believe

that only one more would have done it.

I can almost sleep at night

if there is only one more.

Slowly and methodically,

he reverse-engineered a perfect moment.

He took from his surroundings

what was needed...

and made of it something more.

And once the details had been

successfully navigated...

there would be nothing left to do

but wait for the conflict.

Maybe the obligatory

last-minute moral debate...

until the noise of the room

escalates into panic...

and background screams

as the gunman walks in.

And eventually he must have got it perfect

and it must have been beautiful...

with all the praise and adoration

he had coming.

He had probably saved lives, after all.

Who knows what would have happened

if he hadn't been there?

I know that things are bad, okay?

I know that you don't agree

with what I've done.

I know that you're upset.

And to be honest, I'm not too happy

with you, either, right now.

But you know that this is going to pass.

Let's just go.

Let's go somewhere

where we don't speak the language.

Aaron, we don't have the money back here...

and we'd have to steal our own passports.

Money? We'll make money.

They have sports betting in Vegas.

March Madness.

We'll make enough in one night

to finance a thousand vacations.

Passports. You know

they're not using theirs, anyways.

Now, come on. I'm thinking Star City.

Check out the cosmonaut training grounds.

I'm staying here.

Why?

They'll be building their own boxes

in another day.

And yours already knows what they've built.

You're not going to be able

to watch them forever.

The box Abe is building won't work.

He's got it wired wrong.

And if they fix that...

I'll start actually taking pieces out of it.

It's just a gimmick.

It doesn't work anymore.

Your double will say

they have to move on to something else.

And mine will agree. They're friends.

You're staying? Why?

Why? Let's see, why would Abe stay?

What possible reason could there be

to be here?

I guess that

it just won't go back far enough, will it?

Tell you what, why don't you take Kara

and Lauren and put them in the box...

and then you and Aaron can each keep a set

and you can stop feeding off it.

-Don't come back.

-You can each keep a set and a hemisphere.

There hasn't been a reason

to show you what I'm capable of...

but I'm telling this you now. Go out there.

Do whateverthe hell you want.

There's no way in the world I can stop you.

But don't come back here...

and don't come nearthem.

Any of them.

Now I have repaid any debt

I may have owed you.

You know all that I know.

My voice is the only proof

that you will have of the truth of any of this.

I might have written a letter

with my signature...

but my handwriting

is not what it used to be.

Maybe you've had the presence of mind

to record this.

That's your prerogative.

You will not be contacted by me again.

Good morning.

Every half-meter.

Everywhere.

And if you look, you will not find me.

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Shane Carruth

Shane Carruth (born January 1, 1972) is an American filmmaker, screenwriter, composer, and actor. He is the writer, director, and co-star of the prize-winning science-fiction film Primer (2004), which was his debut feature. His second film, Upstream Color (2013), was an experimental science-fiction film which he wrote, directed, produced, edited, designed, and starred in. He also composed the scores for both films. In recognition of Carruth's idiosyncratic and, at times, bizarre filmmaking technique, director Steven Soderbergh told Entertainment Weekly, "I view Shane as the illegitimate offspring of David Lynch and James Cameron." more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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