Line #14 Film/ComputerChess


1	[[quoteright:220:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/computerchess_6344.jpg]]
2
3	''Computer Chess'' is Andrew Bujalski's experimental DeliberatelyMonochrome {{Mockumentary}} film set in 1983 about programmers competing in a chess tournament to see who has the best software.
4
5	----
6	!!Tropes in this film:
7
8	* AIIsACrapshoot: Peter and Shelly discover that his software program won't play well unless it's playing a human. [[spoiler: We find out Bishton has the SAR software learning as it goes - it's implied the computer may have achieved sentience.]]
9	%%* AlliterativeTitle
10	* AsTheGoodBookSays: Papageorge's mother tells the drug dealer's crony about [[http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2015:8-10 Luke 15:8 to Luke 15:10 ("The Lost Coin")]] as Papageorge hunts for his lost drug money.
11	* AvoidTheDreadedGRating: Full frontal female nudity literally in the last few seconds of the film.
12	%%* ChessMotifs: Subtle ones, such as Papageorge's loop and TheTetrisEffect on Shelley.
13	* CrazyPeoplePlayChess: Played with. Only the ''computers'' are playing chess, but one is kind of eccentric. The grandmaster/host does have some quirks, though.
14	* DoAndroidsDream: [[spoiler:Some not-so-subtle references to ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' near the end, though it's from an UnreliableNarrator.]]
15	* ExtyYearsFromPublication: Takes place in 1983, released in 2013.
16	* {{Foreshadowing}}: In the press conference, Henderson notes the disastrous endgame played by one computer program, stating it's caught in an endless loop for a stalemate. [[spoiler: Michael Papageorge finds himself in one searching for his money stash to pay for drugs.]]
17	* GainaxEnding: The ending comes completely out of left field, and seems to be the RuleOfSymbolism [[spoiler:of Peter embracing computers as the only object to which he's sexually attracted]].
18	* GovernmentConspiracy: The drug dealer assumes that the Pentagon is using the computer programs for covert ops. [[spoiler: Beuschler confirms this to Peter, telling him why Bishton was late.]]
19	* GroundhogDayLoop: [[spoiler: Papageorge finds himself in one when searching for the money to pay for his drugs; it's implied that Michael to this day still is hooked and looking for his drug money. The sound sync is deliberately misaligned.]]
20	* ItWillNeverCatchOn: Using computer to find ''dates''?! Hah!
21	* ItCanThink: Shelley reveals that TSAR refuses to play well against other computers and seems to only want to play against real humans.
22	* {{Jerkass}}: Michael Papageorge spends most of the film being a complete ass to everyone, including and especially Pat. He's also a bit of a CloudCuckooLander whom the other contestants start making fun of late in the film.
23	* MindScrew: [[spoiler: The RoboSexual ending]].
24	* MushroomSamba / SplashOfColor: [[spoiler: During Papageorge's aforementioned time loop, the only time the film is in color.]]
25	* NerdsAreVirgins: Implied, played straight with Peter. [[spoiler: Until the RoboSexual ending.]]
26	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Peter leaves the SAR computer exposed to the rain. It gets him kicked off the team.
27	* PrecisionFStrike:
28	-->'''Mike:''' ''(to cameraman)'' What's going on over there. SAR hasn't make a single move.
29	-->'''Pat:''' Hey, don't talk to him, he's working.
30	-->'''Mike:''' ''(nonchalantly)'' Pat, go fuck yourself!
31	-->''(Mike ignores Pat as Pat wears a thoroughly shocked expression.)''
32	* RedHerringTwist: It's implied that once Peter and Shelly discover that the TSAR wants to play against humans instead of other computers, that it's the machine that will play against Pat. The movie instead goes for [[spoiler: a MindScrew ending.]]
33	* RoboSexual: [[spoiler: The MindScrew ending reveals the prostitute is an android.]]
34	* RunningGag:
35	** Papageorge nomadically looks for a room to sleep with after the hotel screws up his reservation.
36	** Cats seem to be infesting the hotel.
37	* ShoutOut: The [=NooG=] team claims they ran an algorithm that would predict the room that the wandering Papageorge would end up in: [[Film/TheShining Room 217]]. This might have been a deliberate reference in-universe, but Papageorge does share some characteristics as Jack Torrance (inability to sleep, needing an illicit substance to function, mildly racist, prone to {{Precision F Strike}}s and so on.) Bishton whispers something to Peter, which may be him pointing out the reference to him.
38	* ShownTheirWork: The film was shot on [[DeliberateVHSQuality Sony AVC 3260 cameras which were around in 1980]]. One character warns the cameraman that if he shoots the sun, he'll ruin the tubes in the camera, [[spoiler: which happens in the last shot of the film]].
39	* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Shelley is the only female programmer at the conference. Pat makes a big deal out of her, and rightly so, since female engineers are rare even now - in 1983 they were as scarce as unicorns.
40	* TheStoner: Papageorge, who can't seem to function without his drug fix, which may explain some of his {{Jerkass}}ity. The last we see of Papageorge is him fruitlessly looking for his drug money at his Mom's place.
41	* TheTetrisEffect: Shelley says she has started seeing people as chess pieces.
42	* ThreeWaySex: Poor Peter is hit on by a free love middle-aged couple. They don't succeed.
43	* TrippyFinaleSyndrome: There is no explanation for the [[spoiler:RoboSexual]] ending. It's not even hinted on in the least, except ''maybe'' Bishton seeing a fetus on his computer monitor.

Context Film / ComputerChess