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.

Films about sport tend to suffer from the fact that it's extremely difficult to adequately recreate sporting action, as most actors play sports about as well as most sportspeople act. This can't be said about chess, which presents another problem for the filmmaker: Films about chess tend to suffer greatly from the fact that chess dosn't really work as a spectator sport. Whilst field games can be convincingly condensed into action set-pieces, chess games go on for days with little obvious progression or tactics to those not deeply versed in it. The more successful attempts have thus tended to have very little chess in them, focusing instead on the personalities involved (Bobby Fischer Vs. The World) or the sacrifices involved in making it in any sport (Searching For Bobby Fischer). Computer Chess instead chooses to see the humour in it, intentionally coming across as a VHS-era oddity found in a skip in Omaha.Much like any good chess film, this film isn't really about chess. Instead, it pivots around a very brief and particular moment in the early 1980s when the prospect of a computer beating a grandmaster was cause for alarm rather than a quiz question as a group of computer scientists convene on a nondescript hotel for a computer chess tournament. The modern tech revolution was born in such enthusiasms, not that anyone cared at the time. The main joy of the film comes from how it sidesteps the problems involved in trying to make a compelling film about chess by avoiding chess scenes for the most part. It's more so an off-kilter ensemble comedy about very intelligent people battling with the limitations of state-of-the-art computer technology (a comedic highlight is the programmer whose computer constantly plays to lose in seeming rebellion against its master), their own social skills and a coldly indifferent outside world that won't let them use the hotel's conference room. The film is shot in grainy black and white so as to look like a cheap documentary from the period, which makes the massive computers and mustaches look a lot more believable. Unfortunately, it's too believable at times, with intentional jump cuts and out-of-sync audio drawing too much attention to the self-consciously "quirky" nature of the film at the expense of cohesion, giving the film an episodic structure. Some of these episodes are brilliant, whereas others are just bemusing. Scenes where characters discuss questions in artificial intelligence and the possibilities of their giant computers are juxtaposed with computer programmers unintentionally participating in self-help seminars and endless shots of cats. Maybe this is intended as some sort of comment on the origins of the internet and what it eventually became. But when watching Computer Chess, these differing elements tend to cross over one another and leave any viewers without a very deadpan sense of humour feeling very lost.On the whole it's a fascinating take on a moment in time: funny and frequently brilliant but also difficult and obscure. It's worth watching, but will probably be loved by a small core of people, liked by a few more and leave many others cold.

Not knowing my way around computers (I still type with two fingers at a time), I was expecting to be bored stupid by this little independent film. However I was pleasantly surprised. Even if you are confused by anything and everything A.I. this movie works on so many levels you're bound to get something from it. Shot in black and white with a cinema verite style, it looks great and feels nostalgic. The performances are very funny, I'm not sure if they all serve to reinforce nerdy stereotypes, but all are very believable. I found the subtle themes of Cold War competition and the anxieties about machines becoming more intelligent than humans to be very interesting.I saw this film just before Spike Jonze's 'Her' and they make for good company with back to back viewings.

I can usually appreciate dry dialogue and the "mockumentary" style, but I cant find anything redeeming about this movie. It was just plain boring. I do not consider myself an action junkie by any stretch, and I thought I knew what I was in for with this film. Chess is not a topic that is easily portrayed on screen but perhaps a stronger focus on the game would have improved things and "spiced things up", but unfortunately that seemed to take a backseat to the dull subplots of a man with no hotel room, a couples therapy session and a kid who doesn't get laid. The scene at the beginning with the panel of experts actually shows the audience falling asleep as the experts speak. Yet this goes on for fifteen minutes which put me the viewer to sleep. I enjoy the game of chess, I enjoy dry dialogue, and I appreciate the independent films....That being said, I cannot find it in myself to give credit to any portion of this movie. There was a movie that was released a few years back which documented a man who attempts to achieve the high score in a certain primitive video game( I think we all know the movie) and the characters in that documentary were nerds, geeks, and dweebs, yet the portrayal of them at least kept you interested in their individual personalities and stories. None of which was present in this dreadfully boring film. This is the first review I have ever given, and I don't feel comfortable ripping a film. But I believe that this film needed to be criticized.