What was the world like before? That is the question every period movie contemplates and seeks to answer by means of historically appropriate props, costumes and habits of speech. An accurate depiction of the past will also involve a certain amount of subtraction, since one of the differences between us and our ancestors is that they didn’t have a lot of the stuff that we take for granted. Part of the fun for viewers lies in imagining (or remembering) how anyone managed without our helpful gadgets and gizmos.

Some of them were trying to invent them, of course. Those are the people represented in “Computer Chess,” Andrew Bujalski’s peculiar and sneakily brilliant new film. It takes place in 1980 at an annual gathering where teams of nerds compete to see which of their programs can do better against a human chess player. The grandmaster in residence, who is also the master of ceremonies, is played by Gerald Peary, who I am obliged and delighted to note is a fellow film critic and, as such, a friendly professional acquaintance of mine.

His opponents, who are also his protégés, are an anthology of bad haircuts, poly-cotton-blend shirts and ugly shoes. These guys — and the one woman in their company (Robin Schwartz), whose gender is frequently noted by colleagues unable to resist condescending to or hitting on her, sometimes simultaneously — deserve our respect. They are the pioneers of our digital present, Vikings who bravely made landfall on the now familiar shores of the future.