Shut-ins of the world unite, you have nothing to lose but your screens. Obex is an ingenious bit of no-fi sci-fi and if you like this sort of thing – I do – then you will be hugely entertained by Albert Birney’s film folding blocky 1980s visuals and parping ancient synths into an Albert in Wonderland story of a recluse who enters a computer game.
First, though, a bit of scene-setting. This starts with the opening credits, which show real production company idents rendered in clunky 8-bit. After which we meet Conor (Birney), a supernerd who lives alone with his dog (Birney’s own dog, Dorothy). Conor’s only communication with other humans is a weekly visit from kindly neighbour Mary (Callie Hernandez), who brings him groceries but is most determinedly not allowed into the house. Conor won’t even open the door to her.
Conor makes a living by “drawing” people with his computer, using pictures sent to him by readers of Personal Computer magazine who have responded to his advert – “I will draw you with my computer”. It’s while checking in the magazine that the advert is still running that he first sees the ad for OBEX, a computer game making all sorts of claims about inserting the player into the narrative. He sends off his money and receives back a 3.5inch floppy and pushes it into the slot in the front of his Mac – an Apple Macintosh Plus from 1986, I think. If so, it has 1MB of RAM.
I tell you all this because it sets up what’s to follow. First, Conor “inside” the OBEX game, all done in 8-bit graphics. It’s so crap it’s funny, and all highly evocative if you remember that world. But then things shift. Suddenly the real-life Conor is bearded and has long hair and seems to be in a different world entirely. He’s in the much more realistic world of Obex, a realm ruled over by the wicked Ixaroth. Before he knows it, Conor is being charged with a quest by Mary, who is also here and shimmering with light, and is heading off on a surreal journey that’s half Lord of the Rings half The Wizard of Oz.
The storytelling is both fantastical and highly straightforward and the effect is like a collision of Andrew Bujalski’s Computer Chess, which exquisitely captured 1980s nerdery, Shane Carruth’s no-fi alternaverse classic Primer, along with a touch of the good-naturedness of Safety Not Guaranteed, which sent Aubrey Plaza and Mark Duplass on a time-travelling adventure that was mostly cardboard and tin foil.
Whimsical, yes, but becoming increasingly paranoid and winding up more explicitly in horror territory, it’s all a big fable about the danger of living “your life reflected in screens,” as Ixaroth tells the emboldened Conor when the two finally meet.
You don’t have to have a soft spot for VHS machines, large video cameras and black and white portable TVs with rabbit-ears antennae but it definitely helps. Birney made his film in fits and starts over a couple of years – which might explain Conor’s sudden acquisition of a beard – but you’d never guess. It has a wholeness to it that feels organic, undoubtedly helped by Josh Dibb (who goes by Deakin in the band Animal Collective) and his no-fi soundtrack composed, or so it sounds, on ancient synths, with game noises, electronic beeps and ambient swooshes gentling things along.
It all works, because both Dibb and Birney are coming from the same place, which is one that understands that once you have people onside they’ll do most of the imaginative work for you. Suggest just enough and the audience will fill in the blanks. It makes for great, thoughtful entertainment.
Obex – Watch it/buy it at Amazon
I am an Amazon affiliate
© Steve Morrissey 2026
