This morning, while D slept, I watched a movie I'd heard a lot about, called "Primer". The basic gist of the story is that a couple of engineers working on something completely unrelated, accidentally create a device that is capable of taking a user back in time, with some perfectly non-fantastic requirements (the box must have existed and been operational at the "early" time, so that it could draw back whatever was inside it at the "later" time).
After they discover the capability, there follows a long, semi-technically sound set of criteria for "how they behave" when they go back in time, most of which they're doing so that they can profit from stock trades on high-volume/high-return stocks on a given day. (The theory that they'll make money, and since it's already high volume, their puny amount won't have any significant impact on causality). They respect causality, they limit their contact with the outside world so as not to have doppelganger issues (e.g., when you see one of the two people running through the day a second time), they seem to understand what it is they're messing with.
It does lead to some great quotes, though, like "Are you hungry? I haven't eaten since later this afternoon."
It was shot on, literally, a $7,000 budget. There are no fancy special effects. The story is key here, in every sense of the word. I won't claim to have "gotten it all" the first time through. π was another movie that was like that, except that even on future viewings that didn't even begin to hold the appeal for me to figure it out. In this case, I'll probably watch it once or twice more before I send it back to Netflix.
With a movie like this it's tough to say a lot about it without spoiling the plot. They discover limited time travel. They exploit limited time travel. This much anyone could get from reading a basic plot summary. Figuring out what to do with it, both in terms of personal fulfillment as well as in terms of ethical and moral dilemmas, is what makes this film interesting.
This is "science fiction" in the truest, most pure sense of the phrase -- it is a fictional story about what science might conceivably permit, and uses that not as the centerpiece of the story, but as a means of touching on other allegorical issues.
I highly recommend it for anyone who enjoys that sort of thing.
Well, I have been looking for a reason to sign up for Netflix. It's been, oh... 2 years now. Perhaps now I will finally do it (honestly, probably not). This movie sounds pretty interesting. I don't know that I would care to own it though. I purchased Pi, I like it, but I probably have watched it only half of a handful of times. Perhaps Primer will be my Netflix trigger movie.
Just been added to my Netflix queue. And, Chris, c'mon dude: I've been with Netflix for SIX years now -- take a chance! ;)