Sundance 2025 Review: OBEX, Oddball Lo-Fi Sci-Fi/Fantasy Redefines Vibe Flick

Writer-director Albert Birney’s (Strawberry Mansion, Tux and Fanny, Sylvio) latest film, OBEX, an almost non-categorizable sci-fi/fantasy/comedy-drama, stands out as a vibe film through and through. If you’re on OBEX’s wavelength or frequency, i.e., attuned to its oddball charms, quirky humor, and irony-free, poignant exploration of its central themes, then OBEX will prove a deeply engaging, infinitely rewarding experience.

 

Set in 1987 and everything that implies low-tech wise, OBEX centers on Birney’s character, Conor, a mild-mannered type defined by his agoraphobia. Conor never leaves his home except to collect the groceries his unseen neighbor, Mary (Callie Hernandez), leaves on his front steps or his backyard to spend time outside with his longtime companion, Sandy. Sandy means everything to Conor. She’s his stalwart friend, the best listener in the world, and his only real link to the outside world. She’s also a dog.

 

At least initially, OBEX settles into a routine, Conor’s, patiently observing Conor’s intensely personal day-to-day activities. For work, Conor recreates photos sent to him by strangers on his state-of-the-art Apple computer and a handy dot-matrix printer. When it’s time to power down for the night, Conor watches any one of hundreds of VHS tapes he’s painstakingly collected over the years from three, perpetually running VCRs, mostly taken from over-the-air broadcasts, including a new-to-Conor horror film, A Nightmare on Elm Street, that foreshadow Conor's later experiences in the film.

 

It’s a well-ordered, well-mannered life, albeit one ruthlessly mediated by Conor’s unmitigated media consumption, drone-like computer work, and downtime with Sandy. When an article in a computer magazine for a new video game promising untold excitement and entertainment, OBEX, piques his attention, he sends off for a copy, including photos of himself and Sandy so they can both be integrated into the 2-bit video game.

 

Disappointment in the final product almost inevitably follows, right up until Conor discovers Sandy is missing. Joining the game virtually (i.e., TRON-style), becomes the only way to save her and bring her back home. Overcoming his agoraphobia and playing the game to its natural conclusion prove to be easier said than done, setting up what seems like a typical quest narrative; it’s anything but typical.

 

Relying on lo-fi effects, exterior locations, and his own imagination, Birney takes Conor — and with Conor, the audience — on a journey that’s less about self-exploration and self-knowledge than in re-finding the simple pleasures in life that have eluded Conor or that he’s forgotten out of habit. And all points story-wise lead to Sandy, the platonic love of Conor’s life.

 

Somewhere near OBEX’s halfway mark, Birney introduces a new character straight out of science-fiction or fantasy: he’s part human, part ancient RCA Victor TV. Not surprisingly, he prefers to be called Victor (Frank Mosley). On a brief hiatus from an in-game virtual quest (more about that anon), Victor and Conor discuss their own, individual idea of heaven.

 

For Victor, long retired (i.e., thrown to the garbage heap), he imagines a heaven where he watches humans rather than the other way around. It doesn’t matter what they do or what they say. For Victor, everything humans (we) do, qualifies as inherently interesting: life in all its mundanity, randomness, and on occasion, chaos is worth living or at least watching from afar.

 

Conor’s idea of heaven won’t be spoiled here, but attentive members of the audience can make an educated guess and likely guess correctly. Ultimately, it’s a a reminder and reaffirmation of what Conor lacks and needs most, what he overcomes (agoraphobic, among other set, self-restricting behaviors), and what, in turn, gives his life meaning beyond his everyday, prosaic reality.