If I told you
there was a new film at Sundance called
Chasing
Ghosts
, you'd probably assume--based on the
title and the nature of the festival--that it was a dark,
depressing drama. But if I told you that the ghosts in
question had names like Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and
Clyde, and you smiled in recognition, then this is the
film for you: because Blinky and Co. are the ceaseless
enemies in
Pac-Man
, and
Chasing
Ghosts
is about the players who made their names hitting
top scores on that and other arcade games in the early
80s. It's also the most pleasurable film
I've seen at the festival thus far, a potential
breakout documentary along the lines of
Spellbound
and
Wordplay
.
The focal point
of the film is the Twin Galaxies arcade in Ottumwa, Iowa,
where, in 1982, owner Walter Day used his gift for promotion
to appoint himself the official scorekeeper of the
video game industry. Top players from all across the
country traveled to Twin Galaxies to beat each
others' scores in games of
Pac-Man
,
Centipede
, and many, many other games. Along the
way, these obsessive, ostracized personalities found a forum
they could excel in, as well as a place where, as one
puts it, "you could go from shit to God for
only a quarter."
There's no
discounting the nostalgia factor in
Chasing Ghosts
,
but what really makes it sing are the colorful
characters we meet along the way, like the glamorous,
mullet-headed Billy Mitchell, who was the first player to
rack up a "perfect game" in
Pac-Man
, or former best friends Ron Bailey and
Joel West, who ended their friendship for 22 years
after Ron beat Joel's world record in
Berzerk
.
Some of these players have moved on and, in present-day
interviews, recall their semi-fame with glee, but just
as many others haven't let their narrow
spotlight go, and engage in trash talk at the drop of a
quarter. Of his fellow players, one man snorts that
"they couldn't get laid in a whorehouse
with a handful of hundred-dollar bills." What makes
that assertion even funnier is that it's coming from
a middle-aged bodybuilder (and disputed
Missile
Command
champion) who's had his name
changed to Mr. Awesome.
Characters like
Mr. A provide some of the most deliriously deluded quotes
I've seen in a documentary since DiG!, but they also
prove that you need not be a video game aficionado to
enjoy yourself here. The people who came of age in an
arcade will find a lot to love (including a killer 80s
soundtrack), but even novices will find, in
Chasing
Ghosts
, a high that's simply unbeatable.
