A day or two ago I watched Primer again. I originally watched it years ago, but I decided to watch it again. I was surprised how clear the movie seemed to me now, compared to the first watching. So clear, that I decided to make a video of it! WARNING: SPOILERS. THIS VIDEO SPOILS THE ENTIRE MOVIE "PRIMER". WATCH THE WHOLE MOVIE BEFORE WATCHING A MINUTE OF THIS VIDEO. You can watch the movie here: http://youtu.be/K_iBUAU-bGw This video explains the events of the movie from all beginnings to all ends, in a concise and clear meta-chronological order. Excerpts from the actual movie are provided for context. I hope this helps anyone who has problem understanding the complex plot of that movie. Technology explanation: -- The box transfers whatever is inside it backwards and forwards in time, between its start (point A) and its stop (point B). The objects inside can exit at any time during their ride by their own volition (such as people do, and they usually exit at point A), but if they never do (the object is inanimate and cannot make decisions), they nevertheless are automatically ejected after a random number of roundtrips averaging about 1300 rounds, and it always happens at point B. Exiting at some point in middle of A and B is extremely dangerous. -- This means that an inanimate object inserted at point A will travel back and forth an odd number of times before exiting at point B, and an inanimate object inserted at point B will travel back and forth an EVEN number of times before exiting at point B almost immediately after it was inserted. Both of these examples were demonstrated to Aaron in Monday. -- That's why they get fungus in the beginning: An object inserted for a whole day actually spends about 1300 days in the box, going back and forth the today and the tomorrow, until finally exiting tomorrow, because the object is not smart enough to exit by its own volition. -- This doesn't explain why they don't get fungus inside the larger boxes that are left running and stopped sometimes without passengers. It is also worth noting that fungus does not thrive in oxygen-poor argon gas. Addendums: -- I wrote that the person who receives the phone call is the non-timetravelled Aaron (the one who was drugged), but according to Carruth, it's actually Abe. -- While Aaron clearly did discover the Failsafe at Tuesday morning, it is possible he actually took the ride (to become the black-hooded one) at some later day rather than at Tuesday morning. This would make it easier for him to narrate the story in the phone. If he took the ride immediately (and got mugged by white-hooded Aaron after drugging his earlier version), he would have to spend a long discussion with the other Aaron in order to know about all those events (such as the Granger incident) that he retells in the phone later. -- When Abe is explaining to Aaron about fungus and time travel, it is evident Aaron has already experienced these events before. He demonstrates prescient knowledge of the upcoming "engineers when they turn 40" joke for instance. -- My explanation relies on interpreting "the boxes are recyclable" in that once you have made the trip back, you can make another trip back in the same box. The note about "modular design of boxes" was unrelated. You can reuse a box many times without folding a box inside another. This means that Aaron took back just one box, not two. When Aaron made his second trip back, he reused the same box he used the first time around. In the end, there is no "third" failsafe running somewhere still carrying Aaron to the past. And when they redid the party several times, they just used the same boxes over and over again. And, I think, they could have safely opened a box to see if Granger is inside, even though Abe did not dare at that point. Once something exits at "A end", there is nothing inside the box, for it is already a new timeline. Other notes: -- It is interesting how the device they made grew from mutual discoveries, and that originally they were aiming for something completely different (antigravity). Time travel was just a side effect. In real world, many great inventions have been discovered in a similar manner. No single inventor can claim honor for the whole end product (though they often do... *pout* Edison). It is built on small independent discoveries. -- It is also worth observing the fragile nature of the friendship between the two main guys. They keep secrets from each others. Aaron lies even to his wife about what really is making noise on his attic. And so on. And what do they use time travel for? It is a symbol of power. Men are hardwired to seek power. In terms of time travel, power is control. The farther back you can start over from, the more power you have. Abe thought he had most power, but Aaron stole that position and gave Abe an inferior one. And money is power. The first thing they used time travel for was money. Only a passing thought was given to where the money came from.

• published: 01 May 2014
• views: 278