Hans Gerber
This is again a movie about a very gifted person who has an obsessive relationship to his profession. Though he's admired by many for his great talent he's mainly driven by his own expectations about himself. Not even his love to a woman that is not only fascinated by his talent but also about his personality were able to save him from being eaten up and finally destroyed by his possession.John Turturrow gives us one of his most outstanding acting performances of his career and so the rest of the cast does. It's a very beautiful but also sad movie about a sensitive, eccentric, tormented character suffering from the burden of his own perfectionism.It is a love story indeed - about the love to a woman but first of all about his love to his favorite game.Of course also this movie can't match the original book. And again I think its for the same reasons:The movie would have gotten way to long.Since movies are a way more passive form of entertainment than reading a book (were you have to use way more of your own imagination) they are expected to be dramatic and entertaining. Too much of the book's details would have made the movie to exhausting to watch.But all this doesn't make this a "bad movie" at all. It's a fascinating movie with an interesting story and great actors - way more delicious than today's usual movie fast food.
chessworld-1
Hi all I am a chess enthusiast since the age of about 6. I supposed I am quite obsessed by chess, but hopefully not as much as the central character in this film.In this film, the central character reflects a real chess player called Curt von Bardeleben who committed suicide in 1924. He is famous for a game he played against Steinitz, where a beautiful combination was played by Steinitz. Instead of resigning, he simply walked out of the tournament hall, never to return.The social ineptness of the central character is unfortunately a treat of some of the more serious Grandmasters you sometimes get in chess tournaments. Chess I suppose is a very big sacrifice, and you can sometimes end up imbalanced in other areas of life. A major example of this is the chess legend Bobby Fischer. Although a genius, he was also very disturbed in many ways.In the film, a World championship match is depicted, as between an Italian Grandmaster and Luzhin. The format is a knockout, which actually the world Governing body of Fide has sometimes employed as a format itself - going from 128 players to just 2 in the final. But this was a group knockout - which also depicts a realistic format, where the winners of each group play against each other.The position before adjournment makes for a fascinating chess puzzle in itself. In fact, I have done a youtube video about it, for you to explore the winning combination in detail - enjoy! http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=XZPtdtPhwdM Best wishes Tryfon
Pascal Zinken (LazySod)
A brilliant chess player attends a tournament and falls in love with a woman he meets there. On itself this would be a pretty bad angle on a story. So, there is more. There is the fact that the chess player is also completely alienated from the world because of his brilliance at the game and the fact there is some history haunting the player.This film steps back and forth from romantic frivolity to tournament tension to historic events that shaped the chess player and works quite nicely. It's easy to grow attached to the two main characters and easy to believe they might hit it off together like the way they do in this film. The added effect of the tournament is very good too and creates a nice tension setting.I have no idea of the strength of the chess players as I don't play the game myself but it looks nice and believable. All in all, most of the film goes down very easily. It is also forgotten again very easily though. So it's nice to watch but nothing more than that.7 out of 10 chess players caught between a rook and a hard place
kevin c
I fell asleep in the first half, that tells you a lot (about the film and my busy week at work). I woke up in the second-half, and to be fair so did the film.Turturro and Watson are fine exponents of the craft. Turturro especially has deserved top-billing for a long time. However, there's little chemistry between them, and this is a film about chess. The most un-cinematic sport there is.
AD
