When it came to video games in the Vogt household, there were some that my mom played more than my sister or me. Tetris (2023) was one of them. My mother was not the best spiritual guide for us, but she did show us a thing or two about this new form of entertainment. This included when my parents bought my sister a Game Boy handheld gaming system, which came with the eponymous title. For these reasons, I never got into playing it and therefore did not anticipate the release of the movie of the same name. However, it was recently suggested to me, so I decided to give it a try. I am glad I did so, and I look forward to telling you about it.

The complicated journey of Tetris begins in 1988 when Henk Rogers (Taron Egerton), a Dutch-born video game designer living in Japan, attends the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas hoping to sell his own game. Instead, he discovers the eponymous game, a deceptively simple puzzle in which falling blocks must be arranged into complete lines. Henk immediately recognizes its potential and learns that the game was created in the Soviet Union by programmer Alexey Pajitnov (Nikita Efremov). The licensing situation, however, is anything but simple. British businessman Robert Stein (Toby Jones) has obtained certain rights from the Soviet agency ELORG and sublicensed them to Mirrorsoft, controlled by media magnate Robert Maxwell (Roger Allam) and his son, Kevin Maxwell (Anthony Boyle). Believing he has secured Japanese computer, console, and arcade rights, Henk convinces Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi (Togo Igawa) to back a Japanese version and risks his family’s financial future by borrowing heavily against their home. Trouble arrives when Kevin informs him that arcade rights have already been promised elsewhere. Henk approaches Nintendo for help and is shown a secret new handheld system, the Game Boy. Convinced that Tetris would be the perfect game to package with it, he persuades Nintendo of America executives Minoru Arakawa (Ken Yamamura) and Howard Lincoln (Ben Miles) of the same thing. There is one problem: nobody seems to possess the handheld rights. After Robert Stein proves unreliable, Henk decides to travel directly to Moscow, despite warnings that foreigners cannot simply conduct private business in the Soviet Union. He enters ELORG pretending to be a tourist and meets its stern chairman, Nikolai Belikov (Oleg Shtefanko). Their discussions reveal that Stein’s original contract covered computer rights only, meaning many of the sublicenses sold by Stein and the Maxwells may be invalid. Henk helps clarify the contractual language by defining a computer as a machine with a keyboard, monitor, and disk drive, separating computer, console, arcade, and handheld rights. Meanwhile, Henk meets Alexey, who is initially suspicious of the capitalist stranger trying to profit from his creation. Their relationship changes when Alexey invites him home and later takes him into Moscow’s nightlife, where Henk sees both the humanity of ordinary Soviet citizens and their growing frustration with the regime. The friendship attracts dangerous attention from Valentin Trifonov (Igor Grabuzov), a powerful Communist Party official with KGB connections who sees Tetris as an opportunity for personal profit. Henk is followed, threatened, beaten, and warned that his family can be harmed. Even Sasha (Sofia Lebedeva), the translator assigned to him, is eventually revealed to be connected to the KGB. She turns out to be involved in a honey trap intended to compromise Henk, though this Catholic is happy to report that he resists her advances. Back in Japan, Henk’s obsession with the deal damages his relationship with his wife, Akemi Rogers (Ayane Nagabuchi), particularly after he misses their daughter Maya Rogers’ (Kanon Narumi) school concert. Business becomes equally desperate. Stein, the Maxwells, Nintendo, and Henk are all maneuvering for rights that have been sold, promised, or misunderstood in overlapping ways. Belikov gives Mirrorsoft a deadline to pay $1 million while quietly allowing Henk an opportunity to produce a competing offer. When the Maxwells fail to meet the deadline, Alexey helps ensure that Henk learns what has happened. Nintendo sends Arakawa and Lincoln to Moscow, where they offer ELORG $5 million for console and handheld rights. Robert and Kevin Maxwell also arrive, relying on their political connections and Trifonov’s corruption to salvage their position. Robert even appeals to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev (Matthew Marsh), but Gorbachev refuses to interfere for the Maxwells and becomes suspicious of Trifonov. ELORG accepts Nintendo’s offer, giving Henk and Nintendo the rights they need. The film then transforms a licensing dispute into a full Cold War thriller. Trifonov attempts to stop Henk, Arakawa, and Lincoln from leaving the country, leading to a frantic pursuit through Moscow toward the airport. Alexey helps them escape, while Sasha turns against Trifonov after his corruption is exposed. Trifonov boards what he believes is their departing flight, only to discover that Henk and the Nintendo executives have taken another plane. Sasha has him arrested on Gorbachev’s orders. Henk returns to Japan, reconciles with Akemi, and finally watches Maya perform the song he missed. He also reveals that Nintendo’s deal has saved their financial future. Tetris becomes enormously successful after being bundled with the Game Boy, while political change accelerates in the Soviet Union. Henk sends Alexey a Game Boy and later helps him and his family move to the United States. A postscript relates that the two friends eventually establish The Tetris Company together.

Thus, Tetris turns a puzzle game about making pieces fit into a story about contracts, governments, friendship, and several businessmen discovering that the most difficult block to place was apparently the licensing agreement. As a Catholic watching such material, I often have a hard time rooting for the people involved in espionage, whether it is corporate or sanctioned by a government. This is perhaps why I found Henk’s character so interesting. He is not perfect, and I think he would be open about his faults as a businessman and husband. Indeed, I spent much of the first half hour of the movie assuming that he had swindled the people who had introduced the title game to him. That, coupled with the amount of time he spends away from a family that clearly misses him, is usually a recipe for an unsympathetic role for this Catholic critic. Nonetheless, he has a faith in his product that could move mountains, or in Henk’s case, countries. Granted, he is not directing his efforts toward evangelization or being a Christian in any way. His confidence in Tetris is commercial conviction, not theological faith. At the same time, he has a nearly blind trust in what he is selling, and I wish more churchgoers could have the same zeal for their religion. The kind of attitude I am talking about is reflected in Alexey’s views on Henk. The Russian programmer asserts that Henk, like all Americans, cares only for money. Plenty of Americans go to church, but do they practice what they preach? If they did, the world would be a much better place. To his credit, Henk gradually shows Alexey that he can be trusted, partly through his dedication to what he is selling and his willingness to honor the agreements he has made even when doing so carries financial risk. Faith tells us that love means willing the good of another, not merely seeking our own advantage. Henk’s motives are not explicitly Christian, but the friendship that develops between him and Alexey moves beyond a purely commercial transaction. In the end, Alexey and Henk do make their money, but there is a refreshing honesty and loyalty in the way the film portrays them pursuing that success together.

If you have Apple TV, then one thing you could do is watch Tetris. If you grew up with the game like I did, that might sound like an amazing statement because I was the kid who usually watched others play it. All the same, this based-on-a-true-story movie about perseverance is worth a view.