Review of Computer Chess (2013) by Justin J — 04 Feb 2014

Intriguing story set during the course of a computer chess tournament during the early 80s; part comedy, part coming-of-age drama, with a tantalizing hint of sci-fi. The actors are rather natural and credible in all their painful awkwardness, but the film is shot in a gimmicky fake documentary style, going as far as purposefully blurring the image and applying a washed out black & white filter throughout, surely an attempt to emulate old tube TV sets, along with the glitchy editing that only serves to break up the flow of immersion the film could otherwise have achieved by taking a more traditional approach.

The presence of the camera in some private scenes is never justified either. Niggles aside, to which the clumsy ending should be added, the film will appeal well to the nostalgic geek within, for the most part.