Set over the course of a weekend tournament for chess software programmers thirty-some years ago, COMPUTER CHESS transports viewers to a nostalgic moment when the contest between technology and the human spirit seemed a little more up for grabs. We get to know the eccentric geniuses possessed of the vision to teach a metal box to defeat man, literally, at his own game, laying the groundwork for artificial intelligence as we know it and will come to know it in the future.
"Recommended." - Video Librarian
"...close to perfect." - Amy Taubin, Film Comment
"An extraordinarily inventive and richly textured period piece." - Richard Brody, The New Yorker
"... a funny, low-key look at nerd culture..." - Hugh Hart, Wired
"Computer Chess could be a new Doctor Strangelove. Hilarious and brilliant." - Nathan Renaud, Accréds
★★★★ "(A) rather brilliantly conceived study. ...About as perfect a rendering of the era as you could ask for...the acting is uniformlysuperb: every twitch, every stumble, every stutter is deployed with absolutely plausibility. Bujalski really has pulled off something extraordinary here... As an act of cultural archeology I can think of few better." - Andrew Pulver, The Guardian
"An endearingly nutty, proudly analog tribute to the ultra-nerdy innovators of yesteryear." - Justin Chang, Variety
"Funny and poignant, it's also a witty satire on technology and how today's cutting-edge will be tomorrow's quaint kitsch." - Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times
Alfred P Sloan Prize Sundance Film Festival
Official Selection Berlinale