Last week I saw Primer (thx for the DVD rip Alex). The film is a remarkable work of creativity. Not just because it is a successful, thought-provoking work of art. But because it was conceived and brought to life by someone who had no experience of making movies. Shane Carruth, Primer’s author, was an engineer for his entire career before he decided to take his life in a new direction. It seems he created the film out of nothing more than sheer will. Carruth had to teach and train himself script-writing, film making, audio editing, music production. He even stars in a lead role.

From Carruth’s Primer website:

PRIMER is a mesmerizing thriller that introduces a gifted new filmmaker with an exciting new sensibility. Thirty-one-year-old Shane Carruth, a former engineer who spent three years teaching himself filmmaking, conceived, wrote, directed, edited, and scored PRIMER and also plays one of the lead roles. His impressive feature debut – set in the very world Carruth abandoned to make movies – tells the story of two engineers who stumble upon a remarkable invention which changes their lives in unimaginable ways.

The story of the making of PRIMER is as unusual as the movie itself. Carruth, who had a degree in mathematics and worked briefly at three engineering companies, was unhappy with his career choice and decided he wanted to become a writer. He tried his hand at short stories and was halfway through a novel when he realized that he was more interested in working with images than with words. At this point, he made up his mind to pursue a career in film, even though he had no background in the subject.

The film is so complex, so artfully crafted, so down-right good, I feel like I have to reconsider my own creative potential. Does everyone have a Primer in them?

When you get through a couple viewings and really want to start digging in spoilers-be-damned, take a look through the TV Tropes Primer wiki for diagrams and plot-breakdowns (thx Neil Knauth).