''Computer Chess'' is a 2013

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film written and directed by

Andrew Bujalski Andrew Bujalski (born April 29, 1977) is an American film director, screenwriter and actor, who has been called the "godfather of mumblecore." Life and career Bujalski, born in Boston in 1977, is the son of artist-turned-businesswoman Sheila ...

. The film premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize, and subsequently screened at such festivals as

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

and the

Maryland Film Festival The Maryland Film Festival is an annual five-day international film festival taking place each May in Baltimore, Maryland. The festival was launched in 1999, and presents international film and video work of all lengths and genres. The festival ...

. It is Bujalski's second black-and-white film, and was shot with analog videocameras. It is more improvisatory than his previous films, with only an eight-page treatment for a script. Bujalski also cast nonprofessional actors who were knowledgeable in computer technology.

Plot summary

In 1980, an annual gathering of teams of idiosyncratic nerds compete in a nondescript California hotel to see which of their computer programs can best the others at

computer chess Computer chess includes both hardware (dedicated computers) and software capable of playing chess. Computer chess provides opportunities for players to practice even in the absence of human opponents, and also provides opportunities for analysi ...

. A grandmaster (

Gerald Peary Gerald Peary (born October 30, 1944) is an American film critic, filmmaker, editor of the University Press of Mississippi, and a former curator of the Harvard Film Archive. Early life and education Peary graduated from Rider University in 1964, w ...

) presides as master of ceremonies with a

videographer Videography is the process of capturing moving images on electronic media (e.g., videotape, direct to disk recording, or solid state storage) and even streaming media. The term includes methods of video production and post-production. It used ...

and microphone in tow. Clunky, primitive

personal computer A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or tec ...

s are carted from room to room. Bad haircuts, dorky shirts, " birth control glasses", and other social impedimenta are ubiquitous. Bull sessions on the dystopian possibilities of

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...

are pursued.

The Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense. It was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase ''The Pentagon'' is often used as a metony ...

's interest in the goings-on is intimated. The only female geek ( Robin Schwartz) in attendance is repeatedly hailed and “welcomed” by the MC. Simultaneously at the same hotel, a

human potential movement The Human Potential Movement (HPM) arose out of the counterculture of the 1960s and formed around the concept of an extraordinary potential that its advocates believed to lie largely untapped in all people. The movement takes as its premise the be ...

group (the “seekers”) has occasional run-ins with the geeks, generating awkward and humorous moments. A painfully shy young computer programmer ( Patrick Riester) attracts the interest of a swinging older couple (

Cyndi Williams Cyndi Lou Williams is an American voice actress and script writer. She has mainly appeared in anime series by ADV Films. She was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Actress for her performance in Kyle Henry's film, '' Room (2 ...

and Chris Doubek). The twin threads of “spiritual” exploration and cybernetic innovation imply an unspoken and implicit hidden connection. In a startling scene, a

prostitute Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penet ...

— apparently solicited by the young programmer — reveals herself to be infinitely more than expected.

Cast

*Patrick Riester as Peter Bishton *

Wiley Wiggins Wiley Wiggins (born ) is an American game designer and film actor. A native of Austin, Texas, he is the nephew of Lanny Wiggins, who was a member of Janis Joplin's early band, The Waller Creek Boys. At the age of 16, Wiggins starred in Richa ...

as Martin Beuscher *Myles Paige as Michael Papageorge *Robin Schwartz as Shelly Flintic *

as Pat Henderson *

Gordon Kindlmann Gordon L. Kindlmann is an American computer scientist who works on information visualization and image analysis. He is recognized for his contributions in developing tools for tensor data visualization. Biography Gordon Kindlmann graduated fro ...

as Tom Schoesser

Reception

The movie has an approval rating of 88% on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 7.5/10. The site's critics' consensus reads: "With its delightfully retro production design, ''Computer Chess'' is an inventive, intelligent, and humorous comedy that celebrates the eccentricity and uniqueness of its subject." In ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

'',

Aaron Hillis Aaron Hillis is an American writer, film critic, director, film festival programmer, and curator. Career Hillis has been active in independent film, especially within the fields of indie festivals, exhibitions, indie film distribution and progr ...

wrote that it was "the funniest, headiest, most playfully eccentric American indie of the year." Mike D'Angelo of ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' raved that the film was "the year’s most singular and adventurous movie to date, to the point where it feels not so much original—a word that conveys a strong sense of craft—as it does “isolated,” as in a mutant strain of a virus. What's more, it's ''fun,'' generating pleasure not from canned jokes or clichéd plot twists but simply from a sense of unhindered freedom."

References

External links

* * *
Interview with the director
at ''Motherboard'' {{Andrew Bujalski 2013 films 2013 in chess 2013 comedy-drama films Alfred P. Sloan Prize winners American independent films American black-and-white films Films about chess Films about computing Films set in 1980 Films set in the 1980s Films shot in Austin, Texas Sundance Film Festival award-winning films 2013 independent films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films