Director: Jon S. Baird
A puzzle game invented behind the Iron Curtain becomes the center of a global business fight, and one salesman is determined not to lose it.
What is Tetris about?
In the late 1980s, video-game entrepreneur Henk Rogers stumbles onto a simple falling-block game and instantly senses it could be the biggest hit the industry has ever seen. Chasing the rights takes him from a trade show floor straight into the Soviet Union, where state bureaucracy, rival licensing claims, and a tangle of shadowy handlers turn a straightforward deal into a high-stakes standoff. As competing companies race to lock down the same rights, Rogers has to out-negotiate rivals with far deeper pockets while navigating a system where the rules can change overnight.
Cast & crew
Taron Egerton plays Rogers with restless energy, carrying much of the film's momentum through tense boardrooms and even tenser Moscow streets. Nikita Efremov and Sofia Lebedeva bring nuance to the Soviet side of the negotiation, while Toby Jones and Anthony Boyle round out a cast of rival executives with their own stakes in the outcome. Director Jon S. Baird keeps the pace brisk, blending corporate thriller mechanics with genuine tension about who actually owns a piece of code.
Context & significance
Beyond the boardroom drama, the film doubles as a snapshot of the late Cold War, when a state-controlled economy and a fledgling global tech industry collided over intellectual property that nobody had a clear legal framework for yet. The story leans into archival-style detail — grainy interiors, guarded phone lines, a bureaucracy suspicious of foreign visitors — to sell the sense that a video game license briefly became a matter of international consequence. It also captures a turning point for home gaming itself, the moment a single puzzle mechanic proved a game could sell hardware as effectively as any blockbuster title.
Where & how to watch
Tetris is available on K-Time with Persian dubbing and Persian subtitles, ready to watch after logging into a free account — no purchase step stands between viewers and the film. K-Time's catalog, search, and layout are built around a Farsi-first experience for Persian-speaking audiences abroad.