There’s a certain bittersweetness in watching OBEX (the title specifically capitalised) only weeks after David Lynch’s sad passing, as Albert Birney‘s truly bizarre odyssey feels like a kindred spirit to Lynch’s Eraserhead, with the hallucinatory anxiety and surrealist mentality playing into a personality that is perversely into its own weirdness.
Set in a pre-internet 1987, and expressed through a dreary black-and-white aesthetic, Birney also leads the charge as Conor, a lonely sort who lives with his dog, Sandy, enjoys watching A Nightmare on Elm Street on VHS, and makes custom dot matrix printer photo reproductions for individuals as his evident source of income. His seeming only human interaction is through his neighbour Mary (Callie Hernandez), who brings him his food orders and indulges him with idle chit-chat through his closed front door.
Other than that, it’s a sole existence for the awkward, yet likeable Conor. And it’s why he’s all the more excited to stretch his creativity when an advert from a software company, Concatix, offers up a video game program that supposedly allows the player to insert themselves into the game. The first sign that all may not be as it appears is when the invitation to the game states for him to “remove his skin”, and, from there, Conor’s off-kilter world – there’s also a whole thing about his home being infested with cicadas – only proves more so, as the program pulls him into a fantastical world that brings to mind the gameplay of “The Legend of Zelda”; just with a more analogue sheen to suit the time period.
The quest he finds himself on revolves around his missing dog, and in Conor having to face unforeseen treacheries in this mythical other world, it looks to expand his personal horizon in having to interact with people on a more front-facing level. However literally you want to take such an escapade, Conor having to step outside of his comfort zone lends the film a sweetness that undercuts much of its proud weirdness.
Such proud weirdness accounts for OBEX truly not aligning itself with everyone’s tastes. It’s little more than a series of set-pieces that delight in their aforementioned Lynchisms, with diverting humour and a kitschy nature leaning into the celebratory nostalgia of it all. OBEX, in its own way, reminds us of a simpler time just as much as it serves as a cautionary tale of how easily technology can consume us. Birney expresses this with his own individual voice, and whilst everyone may not understand him, it’s hard not to at least hear him out.
THREE AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
OBEX is screening as part of this year’s Sundance Film Festival, running between January 23rd and February 2nd, 2025 in person, with select titles available online for the public between January 30th and February 2nd. For more information head to the official Sundance page.