MovieChat Forums > Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993) Discussion > Awesome film

Awesome film

posted 2 years ago by PersistentViewer (1814)
9 replies | jump to latest

I usually avoid films narrated by children, maybe there aren't that many, but all the same. But this was a wonderful surprise. I've always loved chess, and will continue to love it forever.

Max Pomeranc was such a beautiful boy, and he was excellent in this. Laurence Fishburne was awesome. The rest of the cast was ok to good.

SPOILERS

It was awesome how the one lesson that really stuck with Josh, was the blindfold, and he was able to beat Jonathan Poe with blindfold. This film also showed it's important to be a good person, despite the competitiveness of what you are engaged in.

And the footage of Bobby Fischer shown throughout the film was great as well. My most favourite player of all time.

I always love seeing chess in films, and this was such a good chess film.

[–] stickman38 (3017) 2 years ago

It is a good movie but have there been very many chess movies? I remember that one that came out back in 2014 called Pawn Sacrifice, which is a bio-pic about Bobby Fisher's big match against a Russian player staring Tobey MaGuire. I haven't seen it though.

[–] PrimeMinisterX (8305) 3 months ago

There have been a handful of chess films. A few that I can recall, beyond Searching for Bobby Fischer and Pawn Sacrifice, are Queen of Katwe, Life of a King, Knights of the South Bronx, and A Little Game. The only one of those that is actually particularly good is Queen of Katwe, though.

There is also The Luzhin Defense with John Turturro, but I haven't seen it. And there is The Queen's Gambit limited series on Netflix, which is excellent.

And then there are a number of documentaries related to the subject.

[–] stickman38 (3017) 3 months ago

Thanks for the heads up, Prime. Looks like a decent list of movies. I haven't watched any of the TV shows yet but Queens Gambit looks pretty good. I might check out Pawn Sacrifice soon. I've been watching another TV show that's been taking up a lot of my viewing time. Shameless (US version)... ever seen it? It has to be the most depraved show ever. lol.

[–] PrimeMinisterX (8305) 3 months ago

I would definitely recommend The Queen's Gambit, and Queen of Katwe is pretty good too. The rest are probably not worth your time unless you just want to see a movie--any movie--with some chess in it.

I would like to see The Luzhin Defense myself. I know it's based on an acclaimed novel.

I have not seen Shameless but I've heard of it. I don't think it's really up my alley honestly. Lately I have been watching Silo and For All Mankind on Apple TV+. I would recommend both.

[–] stickman38 (3017) 3 months ago

Season one of For All Mankind is great TV. It does remind me of that movie The Right Stuff and 2001: A Space Odyssey. Both are worth watching if you've got the time.

But I kinda lost interest in FAM about half-way through season two. I might pick it back up eventually.

And yeah, Shameless might be difficult to watch for a lot of people, it's pretty crazy. I had never heard of it when I started watching it but I do like William H Macy and so, I decided to check it out. It's a good show but not easy to watch because it breaks just about every taboo subject you can think of.

[–] PrimeMinisterX (8305) 3 months ago

If you still have Apple TV+ and you like Godzilla, you may want to check out Monarch. I watched the first episode a few nights ago and it was pretty good.

[–] stickman38 (3017) 3 months ago

Thanks for that, Prime. I haven't watched anything related to Godzilla in a long time. I watched a lot of the Japanese Godzilla films back in the day. I might check out Monarch, but I ditched AppleTV shortly after I got a tired of FAM. I assume you mean, Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters?

[–] PrimeMinisterX (8305) 3 months ago

Yes, exactly. I've only seen one episode but it was pretty good. He hasn't appeared in the show yet (in ep 1) but I know it has Kurt Russell, who is always awesome.

[–] PrimeMinisterX (8305) 3 months ago

It's the best chess film of all time. The only production that rivals it is The Queen's Gambit, which is a limited series, and so they had a lot more time to tell their story.

Many of my personal interests can be traced back to a movie, and my involvement with chess today--I'm only a recreational player, but I play regularly online--goes back to seeing Searching for Bobby Fischer many years ago.

It has a surprisingly stacked cast for a movie like this. In addition to Montegna, Kingsley, Allen and Fishburne, you have actors like Tony Shalhoub, William H. Macy, Laura Linney and Dan Hedaya rounding out the cast in smaller roles. Who would expect to see so much star power in a small family drama about chess?

Thematically, the film is quite rich as well, as it explores themes such as the pressure one feels when they are the best, the concern a child feels when they feel that their parents' love is contingent upon their performance, the importance of balance in life, and the battle to avoid being internally corrupted as one becomes--and tries to remain--successful.

It is just all around an excellent movie. It's probably in my Top 25 of all time.