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From:Max Pomeranc , Joe Mantegna , Joan Allen , Ben Kingsley , Laurence Fishburne , Team Marketing , Steven Zaillian , Paramount ,
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User Rating: Amazon Sales Rank:#3585 |
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Brilliant!, 2008-04-03
I'm excited to show this to my six year old who's fallen in love with chess. I've seen this many times and look forward to watching it again and again. This truly is a precious gem!
 Great movie, so-so DVD, 2008-03-09
Great movies are never what they seem to be about on the surface, they always touch on larger themes. "Searching For Bobby Fischer" is not about chess, although a lot of chess is played in the movie. It's not about Bobby Fischer either, although Josh (Max Pomeranc), the movie's central character, mythologizes about him quite a bit (as a player, not, thankfully, in light of some of Fischer's bizarre proclivities, as a person).
This film is about not living vicariously through your children, and having a full and complete life. The movie's tagline: "He wasn't afraid of losing a match...just his father's love" makes the whole affair sound more cloying than it actually is. Josh Waitzkin is a real person (and still the highest ranked player in the US in his age group) whose father is a sportswriter. Fred Waitzkin (Joe Mategna), after getting over his initial discomfort at losing to his son in chess, realizes how talented the boy is and arranges for lessons with chess teacher Bruce Pandolfini (played by Kingsley) and, later, signs him up for tournaments where he discovers that, while being a certified prodigy, Josh lacks the killer instinct we generally think that our champions have to have in any competitive endeavor. How the adults in Josh's life cope with this, and how they help him cope with it, forms the core of the movie.
How Steven Zallian (who wrote the screenplay for Schindler's List, also released in '93, but directing for the first time here) managed to get this cast I'll never know. Mantegna is a Tony award winner (for Glengarry Glen Ross), Ben Kingsley is an Academy Award winner, and Joan Allen and Laurence Fishburne are Academy Award nominees and those are just the lead roles. In addition, Laura Linney, William H. Macy, and David Paymer also went on to become Academy Award nominees and people like Tony Shalhoub, Dan Hedaya, and Anthony Heald turn up in small parts. Needless to say, the performances are outstanding.
But it doesn't stop there--the talent behind the camera is equally as impressive. The Producer is Scott Rudin (who accepted the Oscar for Best Picture this year for No Country For Old Men) and the film was exec produced by Sydney Pollack. Two time Academy Award winner (for American Beauty and The Road To Perdition) Conrad L. Hall is the movie's Director of Photography and, like any movie he ever shot (Butch Cassidy and The Sundace Kid, All the President's Men), the film is absolutely gorgeous to look at. Even the film's composer, James Horner, is an Oscar winner (for Titanic).
In the that's-kind-of-cool department, real life chess champions (Joel Benjamin and Kamran Shirazi to name a few) turn up as themselves and the real Bruce Pandolfini and Katya Waitzkin (Josh's sister) have cameos.
The film handles the questions on the importance of winning and the sacrifices it sometimes entails (nobody would want to have lived Bobby Fischer's life) with grace and sensitivity. Add it all up and you have a wonderful gem of a movie, one that isn't just for chess lovers.
This particular DVD release is not a good one--there are no extras of any kind which is odd since even the VHS version of the movie had some extras. Still this is a movie to treasure.
Bobby Fishcher DVD Review, 2008-02-24
I bought this for a little boy that is starting to play chess and he loved the movie.
 This is so not what real competitive chess is about, 2008-02-06
Too much drama. I watched this movie and cringed at how they portrayed chess and chess players.
Searching for Bobby Fischer, 2007-10-30
Every now and then Hollywood surprises us with a brilliant film that tears at the heart of humanity.
This is one of those films. It is a film that explores values, touches on emotion and the American spirit.
It is a must own film for the entire family. Especially important for younger children in their developing years.
Be prepared to purchase a chess set after viewing.
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