In many ways, Conor (Albert Birney) is well ahead of the times in “Obex,” though he appears as if he’s been left behind, sitting in front of a screen of some type virtually all hours of the day, to the point that a neighbor Mary (Callie Hernandez) picks up groceries for him on her own way to the store and he probably hasn’t taken a step out the front porch of his house since moving in. The year is 1987, which makes the Macintosh Plus on his desk state-of-the-art equipment, but he could not know yet of a life he could spend entirely online when there was not yet a portal for a modem in the back, making the promise of an ad in Personal Computing magazine for a “breakthrough in interactive gaming” called “Obex,” a mighty tempting proposition for someone who doesn’t want to spend any time in the real world.
Although the narrative of “Obex” may suggest that’s a folly, the film itself may convince that Conor is onto something when Birney and co-writer Pete Ohs create an experience to luxuriate in. The director, who previously teamed with Kentucker Audley to investigate people’s subconscious via VHS tapes in the similarly fantastical “Strawberry Mansion,” employs a lo-fi approach that may tap into a certain level of nostalgia for those around the same age as himself, but serves another purpose when adventure doesn’t seem out of reach. The “Obex” game appears initially to be a bust when a floppy disk arrives from Pittsburgh and Conor quickly dispatches the big bad Ixaroth, leaving him to go back to his regularly scheduled work of recreating pictures people send him of loved ones using only the characters on his keyboard as a form of pointillism in what’s become a modest but steady business. However, as easily disposable as the game seems, it is not done with him when to his dog Sandy is missing and it appears that Ixaroth may have had something to do with it as his dot matrix printer announces a malevolent force is on the premises.
Of course there’s an amusing irony that a virtual entity is what brings out Conor into the physical world, gradually obliged to move out of his comfort zone as he looks for Sandy and reality and the simulation collide when he’s steered towards Concatix Castle, the final level of the game. Joined by a kindly companion named Vincent with a TV for a head (Frank Mosley), Conor may be headed towards trouble, but Birney takes “Obex” in an unexpected direction when it is neither a tale of deep alienation or self-doubt, but could be construed as the pull of creating one’s own reality as his alter ego is increasingly given all the tools not to have to engage with anyone or anything and can make those decisions for himself. Surrounded by VHS tapes of recordings he made, he probably needs nothing more to entertain himself in having his own version of YouTube on his shelves, but the question of stagnation arises and as he’s haunted by dreams of his mother and faces the looming threat of the virtual Ixaroth, the weight of what it’ll take to move on is a part of every step.
With few other co-stars, a spry score from Deakin (aka Josh Dibb) of Animal Collective becomes lively accompaniment for Conor on his quest and Birney turns the artificiality of the alternate reality he’s entering into one of the film’s most tactile qualities with handmade special effects, as if to insist on the resistance to an entirely digital existence. Still, it’s well worth surrendering to “Obex” and while hard to place in many respects, it transcends time and space to hit home.
“Obex” will screen again at the Sundance Film Festival on January 30th at 10:30 am at the Holiday Village Cinemas and February 1st at 4:40 pm at the Megaplex Redstone. It will be available to watch online from January 30th through February 2nd via the Sundance virtual platform.