Computer Chess

Representing itself initially as an aesthetically disciplined Christopher Guest-like comedy of manners, Computer Chess ends up in a more complicated & uncomfortable place: something in its implications approaching a found-footage horror film, as if Best in Show took a weird third-act turn into Blair Witch territory. Interested in the tensions of formal & tacit, spiritual & analytical knowledge, CC seems most importantly the self-chronicle of a new intelligence's emergence. "Ask your questions."

A boring, dumb shitty, unfunny ugly movie. Why was this well reviewed at all.

Man, the premise for this movie is really interesting, and yet it's asinine garbage. A reflection on nothing with commentary on even less, the film manages to spend 90 minutes without doing anything. The surreal (Lynchian, even) imagery is laughably terrible and the entire presentation gimmick is lazy and stupid. The characters were the only remotely interesting thing about it and yet none of them are justified even remotely. Fuck this movie.

I can't believe how easily I was engaged by a pretty dry movie about.. well, computer chess. Guess that means I might be more nerdy than I previously assumed. Hoo boy. Anyways, the acting may sometimes be spotty and there's not a lot of momentum but the themes are juuust developed enough to compensate. Cool how the crummy quality of the visuals actually enhances the experience.

It's about A.I. as it is about the human beings that build, program and operate machines -- and how the difference between these two groups is only a matter of having or not having blood in your veins. This is so firmly conducted as a bizarre experiment about time, technology and the relationship of these both two things with the ways we connect with other people (and stuff) that it feels also terrifying. If computers are made by us, can they choose? And are there so many options available?

At first this seems like a neat, lo-fi nostalgia piece, shot with genuine 80s video tech (a unique and effective look) and portraying a small enclave of characters in Altmanlike detail. But it goes in directions that I honestly can't describe in the characters I'm given here. I don't know if I get it all, or even if there's anything meaningful to get, but there's something refreshing about films as baffling (yet oddly charming?) as this that remind you of what the word "eccentric" really means.

Absolutely unwatchable. The only thing I can really say about it is that it's "slightly surreal" and I guess that's why people are ranking it so high. There's no plot, no comedy, no coherent statement about anything, no compelling characters, nothing. Hot garbage.

It's not that machines are going to take over, but instead that man will lose all of his agency. Bujalski himself says he's worried that capitalism will "become sentient" but that's already happened. The idea of "two becoming one" + regulation of the machine is dripping in Fordism. The chess imagery is too direct ("we're just pawns on the board of life" or something) but it's hard to fault Bujalski for trying something different. Plus, there's a room full of cats.

Nothing short of a masterpiece. I think. Maybe not. Kinda weird, really. Probably. (mumbles away).

The low-fi period look is great and some of the scenes were hilarious. The surrealist comedy fell a bit flat. It was disappointing since the premise was so great and I enjoyed Bujalski's previous work. There were some great foreshadowing throughout the film though.

A strange but compelling film. For a good while, the main question on my mind was "is this fact or fiction? Am I watching black-and-white documentary footage from the 70s? What has Bujalski created? Is that British person a real person?" Later on, I almost connected with some of the characters. Ultimately my mind was put at rest. Yes, the film is clever and admirable. Flawed, as well, as there are no easy, concrete answers like in mainstream noirs. But on the whole a breath of fresh air.

May be of interest if you're in the center of a Venn diagram of computer nerd, chess enthusiast and film geek (and I am), but even then it's just a too uneven to be recommended.

I love the topic, the look (presumably achieved with vintage equipment), and the characters, many of whom I feel like I actually knew in the '80s. Plotwise there's not much here. The edges of the humor have been sanded down pretty thoroughly, but there's a surreality to the editing and to a few of the shambolic scenes that makes the film memorable. It's a great-on-paper film that loses (or throws) a few matches; a smart oddball with some productivity issues.

I am absolutely sure this movie is for someone and I'm absolutely sure that someone is not me.

Entertainingly bizarre and random--and its point, I think, is to capture the time right before such bizarre randomness became streamlined by the computer/digital era. In the future--which is to say, today--everything's gonna run better, there'll be fewer glitches and mistakes, the world will all be more smoothed out and have more of a point. Arguably, though, it won't be quite so alive. Kind of a magical, one-of-a-kind film, worthy of multiple viewings.

Impenetrable and asinine. There are some interesting ideas but they get bogged down in how purposefully obtuse the whole thing is. It comes off as being half-cooked.

Definitely need to see this again for the full effect, but what a delightfully weird film. It captures the spirit of small conferences in drab motels perfectly--and then slowly takes a turn for the surreal, with stray cats roaming the halls, computers gaining sentience, and an encounter group whose spiritual aims clash with the logical drive of the chess players. Andrew Bujalski achieves a smart balance, capturing the essence of old-school nerdiness without being too farcical or too deadpan.

At what point do computers become smarter than the men and women programming them? They certainly retain information better than us, while avoiding all of the ups and downs of social interactions that human beings must go through in this game called life.

Maybe I missed something, but to me this feels like a run of the mill film school thesis project. It's intentionally intelligent and artsy just for the sake of being intelligent and artsy, as opposed to actually benefiting the story. It grasps at a bunch of "existential" ideas but delves deeply into none of them. Not bad necessarily, just kind of felt empty and pointless.

Not a film about the type of awkward people who we all know -- A film about the type of awkward existence we all share.

I have to admire Bujalski for at least trying something different this time (because i think we can all agree that Beeswax was not very good), but the execution leaves something to be desired. There are a lot of intriguing (if vague) ideas hinted at here, but none of them are followed-through with any real conviction, and stylistically it's an amateurish grab-bag. The "surreal" bits feel half-hearted and sloppy, and the faux-verite aesthetic just feels tired and lazy at this point.

The visuals and the premise were interesting, but I don't understand most of it outside the actual computer chess stuff.

Very wry and utterly fascinating. Loved the visuals and the slow reveal of the stranger, ethereal elements.

This starts to feel like it's going to become a Saturday Night Live skit at some point, but the humor stays on the almost-too-subtle-to-catch level. It's a quirky mockumentary that offers some things to chew on, but never quite follows through with any of them. (Favorite scene: when the lone woman starts seeing chess moves with people in the room, although she ignores the cats.)

The soul is definetly there

There are no other films

Christopher Guest meets David Lynch's less interesting and less talented sibling. There is a unique premise, and deep down this movie is trying to say something. But my goodness this abomination misses every mark there is. I tried, I really did, but this slog was unengaging, terribly paced, and terribly plotted.

Care is so important. Whatever you do, when you build the model train in your basement, how you treat others, as a husband, big sister, when you have a garden or a new game on your phone. As a healthcare worker or a filmmaker: take pride in what you do. Usually that is tough question for mumblecore but this a wonderful little act of carrying.

Some characters are fun and interesting, but sometimes the movie went along with no purpose and felt stale. I think the depiction of these early programmers felt accurate, that made the movie more fun to watch.

Once again I realise that Something Awful goons have terrible taste in comedy

It almost loses itself in its hellish authenticity until the myriad of cats begin to appear

A.I. vs the inadequacy of man is an interesting premise, but the Lynchian turn that the film insists on is uncomfortable.

A few too many extraneous subplots, but fun.

Filmin son tahlilde ne kadar başarılı olduğu tartışılabilir ama yapay zeka kavramına baktığı nokta, senaryosundaki incelikler ve görsel dilinin özgün olduğu kesin.

Thank god it has some funny moments at least.

Experimental film that calls to mind Tarkovsky's Stalker meeting WarGames but without the sustaining tension of the former or the traditional narrative of the latter.

not enough there

Undeniably unique, but also one of the absolute driest films I've ever seen in my life - which is fine, as far as it goes, but has never particularly been my thing. It's amusing, granted. The video cinematography is effective but also feels like a bit of a stunt at times. Also, holy crap, that was Wiley Wiggins?

I would have liked Computer Chess a lot more if they had cut the whole marriage council subplot but it's ok as it is. Bujalski manages to create a pretty unique atmosphere.

Alternately perceptive and ludicrously nonsensical, this unique indie film is audacious in its attempt to take up heady existential themes but it does so with only intermittent success. Small pockets of brilliance are ultimately drowned out by its frustratingly scattershot elements and willfully forced bizarreness that don't always amount to anything. But hey, points for effort.

This film is 'pure genius'. Odd, surreal, engaging and genuinely funny. I watched it not knowing anything about it, and was sucked into the authenticity of the period film technology used. Very dry humour, silly at times, bleak at others. Great.

It starts out as a charming, lo-fi comedy but over its 93 minutes, Computer Chess descends into genuine madness, and the result is utterly unsettling. This film was everything I had hoped it would be. Meow.

A mildly interesting period piece for anyone not familiar with the 80's and early computer stuff. The humor is very dry. Almost to the point of being non existent. However the main redeeming factor is the films historical accurateness. They even went so far as to use vintage cameras.

Although Bujalski has moved away from dealing with the lives of aimless and neurotic early twenty-somethings, he's still dealing with familiar issues. Its hilarious yet sombre approach harks back to the world of Hal Hartly, whilst creating a wholly original and at times perplexing incarnation of American indie cinema. If Funny Ha Ha was Bujalski's gambit, then the sophisticated Computer Chess certainly feels like an end game play.

Computer Chess has a brilliant premise, the olden look achieved by low-end vintage cameras is gorgeous, and I spent much of it just admiring the whole idea. With that in mind, the eventual realization that the film fails to meet its full potential was bound to leave me frustrated. I found the "climatic" scene uncharacteristically crude and on-the-nose, and the characters and relationships don't really come to life as they do in Bujalski's best works.

It's too dry. It's like eating crackers and powdered donuts and not being allowed to lick your lips dry.

Bujalski's trademark understated humor is here in spades, but otherwise, this is markedly distinct from his previous work. What starts out as a humorous observation piece on nerd culture of the early 80s spins out of control into an exploration of the fringes of human experience, complete with surrealist touches.

Stil olarak cok ilginc ama film hep bi tik yuzeyel kaliyor.

Who came up with the name "Papageorge"? Brilliant!

The first half is mostly composed of some tedium about programming (to win chess) and has the participants talk into the camera about AI vs humans and its threat to mankind. The second half covers similar themes about what separates man from machine (if anything), but with more interesting and artfully constructed montages. Favorite character was the old chess grandmaster who stumbled over his words whenever he pointed out a woman was actually participating in these things.

The use of vintage video cameras to perfectly evoke the era on the cheap is a clever move, and the film is no less watchable for the fuzzy, low-contrast monochrome visuals. The cast is great and the script can be quite funny, but the "big questions" about artificial intelligence it proposes that cheekily go unanswered don't actually seem all that unanswerable to me.

Berlinale 2013 & Beni sarmayan, bir turlu gulduremeyen, karakterler ile empati kuramadigim bir geek komedisi. stil olarak ilgi cekici ve deneysel bir tarafi oldugunu ve bu tarafiyla da takdir edilmesi gerekildigini dusunuyorum.