Directed, written, and starred in by Albert Birney, OBEX is a hard hitting science fiction which portrays the terrors of blurring the line between reality and technology.
The film is a skewed story of the life of a secluded man who finds himself in the dangerous black and white world of his computer. Critics have praised the film for its unique storytelling and innovative cinematography.
It’s surreal, dreamlike quality is celebrated, often compared to “Eraserhead” or vintage video game worlds.
The horror-adjacent sci-fi follows Conor Mash, a man isolated from society whose only companion is his dog, Sandy. Mash is obsessed with computers and television. He spends his life adrift in the pixel haze of vintage computers and the flickering glow of midnight monster flicks on TV.
After stumbling upon OBEX, a video game which appears to be more reality based than it looks, Sandy disappears into the game. Conor is forced to step into the enigmatic digital world he’s been playing in to bring her back. As he navigates this strange, analog dreamscape, he confronts hidden traumas, creeping distortions of reality, and the very nature of loneliness in a world growing ever more connected.
What the critics are saying
Mash navigates works his way through this hallucinatory fantasy world, which according to IndieWire, can be described as “A surreal Odyssey, Eraserhead meets Zelda.”
IndieWire goes on to describe the film as “a surreal, early-’90s’-esque odyssey into its main character’s (also played by Birney) addiction to his vintage Mac and inability to form actual human connections.”
Variety depicts “OBEX” as “a miniature epic of melancholic whimsy endearingly conceived in black-and-white with a lo-fi aesthetic.”
Film Festival Today commends the film as “a testament to the power of independent filmmaking, as well as a loving tribute to 1980s technology.”
A critic from Salt Lake Magazine states, “OBEX is a delightfully quirky piece of indie cinema that I’m glad exists and found its way to Sundance. It reminds me of bad Saturday afternoon cable access movies, but with more charm and care put into it than you would expect.”
The Film Stage notes that “OBEX is an inherently likable journey that should appeal to more than just those whose childhood was similarly, inextricably linked to this early era of computing.”
“OBEX” is set to be released on January 9 by Oscilloscope Laboratories.
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