Primer

Primer is an excellent movie that deserves - nay, requires - repeat viewings to get the most out of it and Tartan Video has produced a flawless transfer onto DVD, which looks and sounds excellent. However, the general presentation is fairly poor. The main menu is tacky looking, nowhere near the production values of the film's excellent credit sequences, and the extras are thin on the ground.

The director's commentary is the best of a poor lot. Shane Carruth offers technical insight into the making of the film and the horrors of a shoestring budget. The commentary with cast and crew is far less interesting, as it's mostly the actors chatting about the various on set in-jokes and the points where various parts of the cameraman's anatomy are visible. Also, the sound on several of the speakers has a metallic echo that's quite distracting. The inclusion of the trailer is almost obligatory, but this one isn't anything special.

A slight oddity is the director's references during the two commentaries to a featurette that was in production, but isn't included here. Footage from Sundance, where Primer won the Grand Jury prize, would have been nice, as would a flow sheet and timeline - or a plot-focused commentary track - to help the perennially confused make sense of the film's second half.

All in all, this is a perfectly satisfactory package with the main feature being excellently presented. It would have been nice to have had a few more interesting extras, perhaps.