I can’t quite decide if “Computer Chess” is a brilliant bad movie or just a bad bad movie. It derives from the mumblecore movement of awkward dialogue, minimal story and consequence, ugly analog video cinematography and the “real kind” of naturalistic acting.
Some fascinating films have been made of these stripped parts, and Andrew Bujalski’s is one of them. “Computer Chess” is a movie that through diligent attention to detail immerses the viewer in another reality. It fools the viewer into believing this is a documentary and demonstrates remarkable craft in doing so. But whether or not this beguiling film is actually a reality worth delving into is another question altogether.
“Computer Chess” is the story of a group of programmers in the early 1980s who have gathered at a drab Midwest motel to test their chess software and see which is best. The winning team even gets the opportunity to play the master of ceremonies (film critic Gerald Peary) and see if for the first time a computer can best a human at a game of chess.
Bujalski transports us to a world complete with bulky computers the size of a wine fridge and haircuts from another time. He pulls back the camera and reveals a sea of pocket-protected shirts, thick rimmed glasses and ugly named tags. The black and white cinematography is not merely grainy and ugly; it’s downright amateurish as though the man hired to document this piddly occasion was learning for the first time. Continue reading “Computer Chess”