Patrick Riester
Wiley Wiggins
Myles Paige
Robin Schwartz
Gerald Peary

Andrew Bujalski

92 mins.
Comedy
July 17, 2013

Not Rated

“Computer Chess” is in the style of a documentary from the early 1980s, the time period during which its fictional computer chess tournament occurs. It’s in full-screen black and white. One question, posed before the games begin and referenced later on in regards to one seemingly faulty program, is whether a computer will be able to defeat a human chess master. And, if so, when will that likely occur?

The main characters are on different teams (including single-person teams) that have designed computer-chess software programs to compete against the other teams’ software programs during this tournament.

The actors seem to be actual computer chess enthusiasts, experts, and software creators. Their improvisations, both during the tournament’s activities at the hotel and during their time away from those activities at the hotel are masterful; the improvisations away from the tournament’s activities principally involve an “Explorers” group that’s exploring what looks like some sort of new-age therapy. The actors don’t even seem to be acting most of the time.

As a result of the acting style and the filming techniques, this film could be mistaken for a documentary. It reminds me of “Word Wars,” “The King of Kong,” and “Spellbound,” for instance, except that this film captures some moments solely for comedic effect. Plus, again, it’s in black and white. (One scene away from the hotel is the only one in color.) It has the look of a film that professionals shot, using multiple cameras, and edited, leaving in seeming flaws (e.g. lint on the camera lens), to look like a film version of a home video.

The comedy is very dry; it won’t appeal to everyone. For example, the depiction of a very boring panel discussion at the beginning of this film is actually very boring; one character, who’s a panel participant even says this out loud and receives appreciative laughter from the audience in the film. A lot of the humor comes from the design teams’ reactions to their software programs’ poor tactical decisions.

Ultimately, though, “Computer Chess” just isn’t interesting enough to warrant a feature film. I think that it would be better as a short, because it loses any spark that it has once you get used to its style and subject matter. There just isn’t much here, unless you’re really into computer geekdom or this kind of filmmaking style.

I can appreciate the craft, but that’s about it.

Verdict: OK

About: (Source: facebook.com/ComputerChess)

An artificially intelligent comedy by Andrew Bujalski about computer chess programmers set some decades ago – when the contest between technology and the human spirit seemed more up for grabs…