MovieChat Forums > Primer (2005) Discussion > It's a soap opera

It's a soap opera

posted 9 years ago by nataliachiacchiari
2 replies | jump to latest

SPOILER ALERT!
The story could simply fit in a line. It's just about time travelling and parallel versions of the characters which causes their lives to crash. Ok. There were thousand ways of telling this story. Of course, only 7 thousand bucks in budget may not take you as far as one wishes but it is all SAID. And the worst of it all is that characters speak in a scientific and tech language that makes it impossible to even get what they are really talking about or even get to what they are really feeling and thinking. A lot of confussion that... well, yes. This is the point in which Primer might bear certain resemblance to a Lynchean world (somewhat that came across Soderbergh's mind when giving his opinion about this movie). But the movie doesn't even give you time to understand the characters themselves are puzzled about all the things happening. They just start babbling out a lot of WORDS! I so much longed for some silence, here, some real pause. Most probably, that was director's intention - a movie with no pauses. But I don't see a story told with images and sounds. It's just like a book read out loud.
The acting is pretty good, very convincible. They just spit out lots of complex vocabulary about processes we never see. We believe it because... well, they are the only thing we can hang on to. But, all in all, I think this is the opposite of cinema. The most boring movie I've seen in a very long time and totally overrated.

[–] hybrid-cyborg 9 years ago

They're using real terms. Instead of turning it into simple terms you'd understand they're just being themselves and using real life terms.

[–] YuunofYork 8 years ago

I have to disagree. In the DVD commentary the writer/director Shane Carruth points out a great deal of attention to detail whose only purpose was to provide character expression and exposition. For him the SF element is really an elaborate backdrop for a character study.

Abe and Aaron are two sides of the same coin. Aaron has the life Abe wants, but takes it for granted. There is a lot more going on here - and yes, it shares some elements of a soap opera, but not in the way you mean I think.