Computer Chess

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source: Computer Chess

If you are out of sleeping pills or have insomnia. Guaranteed to put you to sleep. I actually had a fabulous nap - 2 or 3 of them actually - while attempting to keep my eyes open. There might have been a premise somewhere in there but only the director and his friends could tell you about it since everyone else will be fast asleep - or doing the neck dance of nodding in and out of sleep. Computers, chess, retro, dry dialogue, vintage cameras.... on paper this could have been fun and quirky and a nice time. Anyway, next time you feel too wired to sleep and don't have any substances to help you, put this on and you'll conk out in minutes (that or throw your TV against the wall).

Computer Chess may have an unconventional and experimental style, but its story is simple. It's very much like a Christopher Guest competition mockumentary setup with a similar satirical sense of humour and fortunately its exposition is welcome and well-handled. Its video and black and white cinematography feels more than a gimmick and places the film convincingly in the 80s. At least it makes better use of it than last year's disappointing No. Although it's intended as a character-based film, peering into the lives of the contestants rather than concerned with the competition itself, it's the area it struggles with most. It's difficult to keep track of characters and many feels like cartoons. But its themes still work. It makes you think about the progression of technology and its integration with society as well as what you should live for. It's more of a directors movie with hints of surrealism and meta scenes where the gimmick breaks the mold which results in making Computer Chess interesting, thoughtful and entertaining film but wildly inconsistent with the places where it doesn't know what it's doing. 7/10

--WARNING: There may be some spoilers ahead for those who haven't seen the film, so just a heads up. In order to accurately review this film, it may be necessary to talk about some key moments.-- Computer Chess is very much so an insiders game, and in all fairness, while it may have it's audience, it's as inaccessible and boring a film as they come. Now I for one love looking for a good movie that offers something different or has a unique quality to it that separates it from the rest; but when it feels like said insider's game is more condescending than it is an inside look, or utilizes intelligence at the expense of being interesting, then it's easily one of the worst types of film you can experience, and Computer Chess fits that bill. I was anxious to watch this movie, it seemed like an awesome retro indie film that was going to have some style, personality, substance, and real panache to it, but instead it was a lifeless portrayal of an earlier age of computers that I find hard to believe was THIS boring even among it's most intellectual and socially awkward; and if in fact it was this way ( since I conceit to having no experience with a hobby like this before viewing this film), then why make a movie about individuals who are in no way interesting and who are trying to create the perfect program to beat each others computers at chess? Admittedly it has it's moments, but those are so few and only make up roughly 3 minutes worth of the whole movie. Computer Chess was set up to be as authentic as possible in how it was developed but I found it just translated very poorly into a fun experience, especially with it's kooky and at times creepy paralleling spiritual story that seemed poised for a perfect juxtaposition, but rather felt very misplaced, bizarre and more like blatantly awkward filler. It almost seems to thumb it's nose at popular culture in the worst possible way by going against every conceivable norm in cinema that it can. The acting is sub-par (granted the actors were nonprofessional), the plot barley existent, the music is mostly horrible, the cinematography comes off as forced art more a product of our current times than 1980, conversations are filled with jargon or flat out just not interesting even at their most basic, the cast on a whole is unappealing, the concept dated, the choice to film in black and white hurts more than it helps; honestly the list goes on and this movie is just a headache. A major disappointment and very hard to sit through, but I managed. To anyone who enjoyed this movie I applaud you; I'm sure I must be missing something since it wasn't reviewed poorly, but to me, I would never watch it again or recommend it to anyone unless they were seriously into either computer chess, chess, or the history of computer technology in general. It's just flat out boring.

Just like a chess game has almost endless possibilities, so do people. In "Computer Chess" set decades ago, a bunch of mostly nerdy introverts assemble to test their chess programs in competition. The programs are pretty awful, with some amazing glitches evident in the games played (by contrast, today's chess programs are killer). "Computer Chess" is set in a hotel and we encounter other folks no less strange in their own way. Surprisingly good theater in this film - lots of quiet laughs as people and their strangenesses interact - or not. Really shades of both Kafka and Andy Warhol. Two unexpected encounters at the end of the movie wrap it up very well. The batter takes the first pitch for a called strike, but the second pitch winds up in the bleachers.

The Computer Chess subculture, how it looked, and how it related to the rest of early 80s U.S. culture, is central in this pitch-perfect film, which captures the loss of a particular variety of innocence. The PortaPak video may be blurry by today's standards, but the characters and dialog are sharp with a cutting, mockumentary wit. The plot mainly follows the members of the competing chess program teams (and some odd hangers-on) through the weekend tournament, but the interactions with a New Age encounter group sharing the motel add another dimension to the story and remind us of some of the other explorations going on in those times.

Shot in grainy black-and-white, the ultra-low budget "Computer Chess" is the type of movie that gives art films a bad name among audiences who never go to art films. Slow-moving, meandering and technically unpolished (to put it mildly), it might be of interest to anyone who has a fascination with computers, chess or possibly both. Anyone else will likely be bored to tears by this static tale of a group of early '80s nerds attending a tournament designed to determine which tech team has come up with the most effective computer chess program. The movie is obviously intended as a satire of sorts about the ancient days of computer technology and those who have an easier time interacting with technology than with their fellow human beings. It also makes fun of Man's relentless quest to create artificial intelligence, but the whole thing is so lacking in clarity, energy and humor that I imagine that half the audience will have drifted out of the theater long before the midway point, while the other half will be in too much of a stupor to get up and leave.

Sorry but after all the hype it turned out to be 92 minutes of writhing boredom - and I am a strong chess player (yes the laptop beats me but that has nothing to do with my review). I mean can someone explain to me why the * at the end removes part of her wig and shows...what? part of program? And what about Michael Papageorge - what does he purport to represent except a brash but poor American? Actually the only guy I like out of the sorry lot was Mr Henderson who was fighting the rear guard action of Man vs. Machine - he evidently had a tough game in the last part of the film but his facial antics belie that he is a seasoned chess player - those rarely grimace or do facial exercise while the game is on.

This film is a good idea, and a couple of the players do a reasonable job with the material. However, I found the whole program was most disappointing. Some care had been taken to use authentic looking computers from the period, but this effort was wasted. It really needed an experienced scriptwriter to check for continuity and irrelevant sections. On the print we saw in Melbourne, Australia, there was even a short section of colour which overlapped a part of the film and left a small hole in the "story". It seemed that they did not have enough material for a feature length film, so they introduced quite a few contrivances to stretch it out, but all they did was to add to the haphazard nature of proceedings. One major contrivance appeared to be used throughout the film so that the result of the final chess game was the one wanted by the writers. Very silly, and an artificial way to produce "surprises" in the story. I was also surprised to see that the Tribeca Film Festival was associated with this film.