This Tetris Documentary Will Rock You

So I'll go ahead and assume you're aware of King of Kong, the videogame documentary that chronicles an epic struggle to dominate the game of Donkey Kong. Kong was a surprising movie mainly because it was supremely interesting to non-nerds, even though its subject was nominally a video game -- and who wants to watch a movie about a video game, much less a super-old video game? Well, the short answer is of course that the film was about people who play video games, and these days, that category extends to almost everyone. There are a handful of games that almost every game-player has tried -- top among them is Tetris, the classic game by Alexey Pajitnov.

Director Adam Cornelius has put together a documentary about the top Tetris players in the world -- the trailer is below, and it's been blowing up since the trailer hit the video game press on Tuesday. I've actually gotten a sneak peek at parts of the film (full disclosure: Cornelius is a friend from college), and I'm extremely excited about this documentary. I should be clear -- I have several friends from college who make movies, and I don't post their trailers here. This one -- well, sometimes there's a movie that has such universal appeal, and such compelling characters, that you have to take a look. This movie combines the nerd appeal of Tetris, obsessive game-playing, and guys wearing wolf/moon shirts with the excitement of a sports event. I'm not kidding -- watching the best Tetris players in the world competing head-to-head is visceral and thrilling. Here's the trailer:

Ecstasy of Order: The Tetris Masters is currently in postproduction, set for release in 2012. If you've played Tetris even casually, you'll find this movie tense, exciting, and nerdy around the edges -- and yes, it'll give you Tetris Dreams.