‘OBEX’ movie review: A fascinating exploration of video game logic that falls short
Hollywood has become enamoured with adaptations of video games, but OBEX is an independent film that understands the parameters of gameplay and the culture that it inspires.
Although there have been attempts to bring video games to life on the big screen ever since the disastrous 1993 Super Mario Bros film, the industry has slowly begun to show the fruitfulness of these adaptations with shows like Fallout and The Last of Us. However, the success of these projects lies in the fact that they are somewhat removed from gameplay: Fallout is ostensibly an original story that is set within an established universe, and The Last of Us is based on a game that was renowned for being more cinematic than anything on the market.
Although it is based on a true story, Alex Birney’s independent science fiction adventure OBEX utilises the mechanics of gameplay to make interesting narrative choices. It’s also a film that is clearly inspired by ‘80s popular culture, but does not collapse under the weight of its references. What’s most fascinating about the film is that it begins as a more stylised, paranoid psychological thriller than what the rest of it ends up being.
In addition to directing, writing and producing the film, Birney also stars as Conor Marsh, a loner who lives in Baltimore in 1987 with his dog, Sandy. Conor’s obsession with the video game OBEX has become an all-consuming aspect of his life, and at first, the film seems to suggest that this could be dangerous; the entire film is shot in black-and-white, but the insular projection of Conor’s world initially bears commonalities with David Lynch’s Eraserhead and Darren Aronofsky’s Pi. It’s only after Sandy goes missing and Conor is forced to literally enter the world of the game that OBEX turns into a more rip-roaring fantasy adventure with more than a few visual nods to The Legend of Zelda.
Setting the film in 1987 isn’t just a means to homage a more classical era of gaming, but to have fun with an era in which gameplay was a little less sacred. It’s once Conor enters the world of the game that he discovers that not all the environments are properly rendered, and that there are edges of the map that he can’t cross, where some characters fulfil functions that are one-note, and most of the dangers can be sidestepped for the sake of a cheat code. This was a time in which, to be good at gaming, one had to learn specific logical strategies, and didn’t necessarily have to adopt an in-depth, comprehensive knowledge of the game’s mythology. It serves as a great way in OBEX for Conor to be a more active protagonist, as his perseverance is the result of problem-solving, and not the acquisition of physical strength.
Even if the concept of using low-budget production values to embody the staticity of retro games, the banality of the world in OBEX does make it a bit of a tough sit, especially since a majority of the second half follows Conor as he wanders around without purpose. There are instances in which specific jokes centre around idiosyncrasies within the world, but these become less common once the film cuts to its emotional centre involving Conor’s search for Sandy. Searching for a lovable dog is as winning a premise as any film could ask for, but it does feel as if this one sacrifices the psychological insight it had on Conor as a character for the sake of a more traditional quest narrative.
Although the protagonist may be a character that Birney saw as a stand-in, the unfortunate reality is that he just isn’t compelling as an actor. Conor is a bit of a social outcast, but not someone who is so repulsive that he would have any sort of edge, and while he’s inspired to become more confident once forced to literally become a hero, he never develops a sense of charisma that makes him more interesting to watch.
Even if the intention was to utilise a bland protagonist for the sake of reflecting the basic nature of early gaming, Birney’s performance isn’t self-aware enough to make this into a satirical point. It becomes more blatant when Conor’s friendly neighbour, Mary, played by Callie Hernandez, is embodied in a different form within the game, who understands how to augment her performance for the two realities, and makes the case that she might have been a more compelling lead for the film.
OBEX might be a more interesting concept in theory than it is in execution, but there’s also enough experimental filmmaking to make it worthwhile. There’s a gratifying lack of cynicism in how Birney explores the consequences of being obsessed with a digital world, as the concerns about overreliance on technology aren’t too overstated. While it isn’t the type of film that would have become a classic had it been given access to a more significant budget, it’s hard to argue that it doesn’t succeed in doing exactly what it set out to achieve.
