INDIE GAME: THE MOVIE (James Swirsky, Lisanne Pajot, Canada). 96 minutes. Subtitled. Rating: NNNN
You don’t have to be the type who keeps an Atari in a trophy case to be enthralled by Indie Game: The Movie.
The intelligent, thoroughly absorbing doc is a delight for both the avid gamer and those not so up to speed with Nintendo-speak.
A handful of independent video game designers and programmers bring us into the hermit caves where games are conceived and walk us through the mounting anxieties and gruelling anticipation that come with delivering product. All the while, the filmmakers and their subjects mount a legitimate case for video games as a new art form, with certain developers taking on the airs of the next generation’s Jean-Luc Godard.
If video games are our New Wave, this doc is its Cahiers du Cinéma.
May 3, 9 pm, Bloor Hot Docs Cinema, and simultaneously across Canada in select Cineplex movie theatres.