OBEX
Conor Marsh (Albert Birney, "I Saw the TV Glow") rarely leaves his house in Baltimore, spending his days recreating photographs with ASCII art for $5 a pop. It is 1987 and "A Nightmare on Elm Street" will be broadcast on television for the first time, an exciting evening's entertainment for he and his dog Sandy (Birney's dog Dorothy). Conor is eagerly awaiting a new videogame he has ordered, but his first experience with it is very disappointing and he drags it into his trash. He hasn't gotten rid of it though and will receive a disturbing message from his dot matrix printer telling him repeatedly to 'remove your skin' and ending with 'I'm inside' accompanied by an ASCII image of one of his videotapes. Then Sandy disappears, taken by the demon Ixaroth (Birney) who rules over "OBEX."
Laura's Review: B
Cowriter/coeditor (with cinematographer Pete Ohs)/director/star Albert Birney ("Strawberry Mansion") rewinds to 1987 to explore the roots of isolating computer culture within a delightfully retro technological adventure. Birney recreates the rudimentary computer graphics of games like Zork as they evolved from early all text formats. It is also a year when cicadas emerged, a constant presence invading his home, games and nightmares (and the film's soundtrack).
Conor, who behaves like an agoraphobic, gets his groceries delivered by Mary (Callie Hernandez, "Jethica"), who he speaks to through his closed front door. When he's sure she's left, he ventures outside to bring them in, picking up his mail from an 'in' basket while leaving outgoing in the corresponding 'out' basket. He checks his Personal Computing magazine, happy with the quarter page ad he's placed for his ASCII art, then notices another for OBEX, a game which claims to put you inside of its world, personal configuration requiring a video interview to be sent along with payment. One of the questions it asks is 'Do you have a pet?'
Conor retires to his bedroom upstairs every night, Sandy running ahead, always by his side. On another Mac upstairs he chooses either a song or sound to go to sleep and his choice of Gary Numan's 'Cars' will guide him into his first driving dream, the road stretching out before him at night like in a David Lynch film, his mother (Paisley Isaacs) feeding him grapes from the back seat. After deleting his game, things go off kilter. He hears Mary knock on his door, her voice morphing into something else asking if there is blood in his milk. Blood streaks his latest print job, a cicada in the equipment. After receiving that eerie message, he'll watch all the videos stacked on his shelves, the process hypnotic, but when he goes to sleep that night a demon emerges from his Mac and takes his beloved companion.
The film, shot in black and white by Ohs (who wrote, directed and shot "Jethica"), has a DIY homespun quality perfect for the material. Effects are much like those in Birney's "Strawberry Mansion," where some figures appear like illuminated ghosts. Birney finds a way to transport Conor into OBEX, our viewpoint changing from low res graphics to live action, to search for Sandy and just like in the games he's referencing, Conor will be given 'supplies' to help him on his quest. He'll also meet Victor, an RCA television (Frank Mosley with a tube TV for a head) who will guide him to Ixaroth's Concatix Castle after a convenient dogleg to the Valley of Bones where that Corsair from his dreams awaits.
Alongside a camp fire, Victor will confess that his idea of heaven would be to just sit and watch people instead of being watched. He asks Conor what his is and the man replies 'spending a day at the beach with my dog.' "OBEX" invites us to reengage with life.
Robin's Review: B+
Reclusive Conor Marsh (Albert Birney) lives a quiet life with his lovable little dog Sandy (Dorothy). To while away his time he purchases a video game for his Macintosh computer and, soon, becomes obsessed with playing. Then, Sandy disappears and he must leave the safety of his home to rescue her as he enters the sinister world of “OBEX.”
Written, directed and starring Albert Birney, this is an imaginative look into the early days of gaming in the 1980s. The filmmaker captures the feel of those humble beginnings of the gaming phenomenon through the eyes of Conor. Once he begins playing, he becomes obsessed and possessed by the game, Then, Sandy goes missing.
The voluntary shut-in must break his reclusive ways if he wants to get his beloved puppy back home. He must venture into the world of OBEX with all its dangers. This is where the movie BECOMES a video game as Conor must follow the map of the OBEX world if he is to rescue his beloved pup.
He journeys from realm to realm within the game, following the map of the strange world, facing obstacles along the way to his inevitable rescue of the adorable Sandy. I have never been a computer game person but Birney conveys the 80s computer nostalgia with his Macintosh computer and floppy discs in an 8-bit world.
As the story plays out and Conor is forced to endure dangers, like leaving the safety of his home and facing adventures along the way in his quest. Birney’s Conor undergoes a metamorphosis in his journey and, in the end, is a better, smarter and more daring person because of his battle against all the obstacles put in his way by the game.
Birney’s use of black and white photography adds to the 80s nostalgia carefully crafted here, He also makes me glad that I never caught the gaming bug.
Oscilloscope releases "OBEX” in select theaters on 1/9/2026, wider on 1/16. Click here for theaters and playdates. The film opens at Cambridge, MA's Brattle Theater on 1/16.
