‘Prime’ (2024) Netflix Movie Review - No Fun, Only Frustration

Thabiso Christopher's Prime opens with Marius (Richard Gau) receiving the news regarding his father's death. A movie can go in various directions from this point. It can use the death as an excuse to explore a father-son relationship. It can also assemble all the family members at the funeral and expose the underlying tension in their relationships. Christopher, however, doesn't do either of these things. He uses the tragic news to send Marius into the depths of depression. In the process, the writer-director tries to impress us with arty images.

Unfortunately for Christopher, we are never impressed by his ostentatious style. Prime is like those "art house" films amateurs make to come across as cool and sophisticated. The movie puts Marius under a lot of stress so that it can "mirror his psychological state" through ambiguous moments. There are several scenes where Marius is seen talking to other characters, and then those characters are suddenly removed from the frame. This trick is meant to raise questions like, "Did Marius imagine the whole conversation? Or is his mind playing an earlier conversation again?" The answers are purposefully left vague so that the viewers can discuss the meaning behind the scene. Christopher basically makes a mess and then asks us to clean everything up through our interpretations.

Prime is the kind of film where a character is fully defined by her name. I am, of course, referring to Na'amah (Jasmine Hazi), who calls herself Eva. Who is she? Wikipedia describes her as a demon. She earned her name by seducing men. This is exactly what Eva does in Prime. She seduces Marius. The movie justifies her existence through pompous religious symbols. In one scene, Marius receives a phone call from either her father or mother (both dead) while he is standing in front of a cross. I am not sure what to make of this moment. I also don't know what to do with that robber who attempts to steal Eva's purse. Is he conjured by her as a lure for Marius, or was he a human walking around in his mask on the beach to find his victim?

It's futile to come up with explanations for this film. It looks simple, considering it's about a man suffering from trauma who loses the most important person in his life - his girlfriend Thembi (Nomsa Twala) - after getting seduced by a sin (infidelity). This easy-to-grasp story is muddled through a pretentious approach that's less fun and more frustrating. Perhaps Prime wanted to show Marius as a complex character. However, he merely arouses contempt from us. This is why we cheer for Thembi when she finally chides him. There is an intense scene here in which one of Marius' colleagues calls him a racist. Is he really, though? That's something you cannot confidently declare based on this imprecise film.

To make matters worse, almost every scene in Prime works hard to put you to sleep. The images don't spark our curiosity. They simply impose passivity on us. A priest tells Marius, "You are being tested, my son." No, father, it's the viewer who is tested. Christopher has made a puzzle box that is meant to be solved. He wants us to discuss his (empty) images, but we try our best to keep our eyes open. Without emotional engagement, we are left with extreme levels of boredom.

Final Score- [2/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times