Primer

There's one problem with watching a lot of movies and that's the fact that it gets harder and harder to be impressed by a movie. But it's still worth it because once in a while you stumble across a movie that completely blows you away. Primer is exactly that kind of movie. Written/directed/produced/edited by Shane Carruth (who also acts) on a silly small budget of $7000 this movie really shows how far pure skill and ingenuity can take a movie. Unlike most new "independent" movies, which in fact are produced by subdivisions of the major Hollywood-studios, this is proper independent cinema.

The movie is a sci-fi story revolving around a group of engineers that spend their spare time working on various inventions, and strike gold when they realise that they've constructed a time-machine. The consequences of this discovery are devastating and very complicated to say the least. The plot is in fact so intricate that I don't hesitate to say that this is the most intellectually demanding plots I've ever seen. It really requires you to focus and you're not given any Hollywood-style simple explanations. I've seen this movie 3 times and still haven't figured out the plot completely.

One reason why I really like the movie could be that I sympathise with the geekiness of the characters and enjoy the scientific edge to the movie, but I think this movie should appeal to anyone who likes challenging movies and appreciates the craft that goes into making them.