Geri's Game is a 1997 short animated film from Pixar, written and directed by Jan Pinkava.
An old man, Geri, settles himself down at a table in a park and sets up a game of chess. He makes a move as white, takes off his coke-bottle glasses, moves laboriously to the opposite side of the table, and makes a move as black. Then he laboriously shuffles back to his original seat, puts his glasses back on, and makes a move as white. Repeat.
The Geri playing the black pieces, "Black" Geri, is mean-spirited and aggressive. Eventually he manifests as a second, separate person, and a much better chess player, ruthlessly wiping out all of "White" Geri's pieces. But "White" Geri has a trick up his sleeve.
The short was Pixar's sixth and first since 1989's Knick Knack, as well as their first after becoming a full-time animation studio. Most notably, it was their first to have a human as a main character, largely as a means of improving on their earlier efforts in both Tin Toy and the first Toy Story film.
The character of Geri had a cameo two years later in Toy Story 2 (voiced by Jonathan Harris) as the cleaner who fixes up Woody.
Tropes:
- Ambiguous Situation: Either Geri is either really into the act or he somehow split himself in two. "White" Geri's heart attack gambit takes it to an extreme, as "Black" Geri reacts to it in real time.
- Artistic License – Chess: Most of the moves are legal, save obviously for the last one where "White" Geri wins by flipping the board around and switching his and "Black" Geri's pieces.
- Bait-and-Switch: "White" Geri, realizing he can't win, fakes a sudden Hollywood Heart Attack, distracting "Black" Geri, and pulls the old switcheroo.
- Cool Old Guy: Well, the ability to divide yourself into two is pretty cool.
- Crazy People Play Chess: Geri, depending on how crazy the audience views him to be.
- Creepy Crows: Crows in the park begin squawking as soon as "White" Geri loses his first piece. A bad omen signifying it will be the first of many humiliating losses to come.
- Double Consciousness: Geri plays out this trope, acting snarky and aggressive on one side of the chessboard and anxiously intimidated on the other.
- Everyone Has Standards: "Black" Geri is concerned his opponent appears to be having a sudden heart attack, not knowing he's being played by "White" Geri.
- Evil Old Folks: The "Black Geri" while not exactly evil is quite mean and smug towards "White Geri."
- False Teeth Tomfoolery: The penalty for losing? "Black" Geri has to give "White" Geri his dentures.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Inverted. "Black" Geri has no glasses, while "White" Geri does.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: There is only one shot where another player can be seen.
- Good Colors, Evil Colors: Invoked. "Black" Geri is crude and aggressive, while "White" Geri is meek and anxious.
- Holding Both Sides of the Conversation: Maybe? Or are there really two of him?
- Jerkass: "Black" Geri rather meanly extends the game in order to take each and every one of "White" Geri's pieces, when he could have forced a checkmate long before.
- Literal Split Personality: The Freeze-Frame Bonus implies that at some point during the game, there actually were 2 Geris.
- Mind Screw: Are there two of him? Does the guy have split personalities? At one point, when "White" Geri fakes a heart attack, "Black" Geri checks his own pulse, as if surprised he's still standing. The one blink-and-miss moment where "Black" Geri's hand appears in the same shot as "White" Geri is especially mind-boggling.
- Minimalist Cast: The only character in the entire short is Geri, playing chess against himself.
- Mirror Match: Geri plays one of these out with himself.
- Scatterbrained Senior: "Black" Geri falls hopelessly for the old switcheroo, thinking his pieces were white, not black, with no accounting for how he got into an unwinnable situation.
- Silence Is Golden: Aside from laughter and grunting, no actual dialogue.
- Smart People Play Chess: Although ironically the inferior chess player, "White" Geri is revealed to be smarter (or at least more cunning) than his doppelgänger.
- Synchronization: After “White” Geri appears to have a heart attack, “Black” Geri checks his own pulse, apparently concerned that he might suffer the same experience as his doppelgänger.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: "White" Geri wins the game by faking a heart attack. When "Black" Geri looks under the table for him, "White" Geri pops back up and flips the board around.
