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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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Lovely Movie, 2007-10-02
This has been one of my favorite movies for quite some time. It is great for the whole family! I don't know how true to real life it is, but I love watching the evolution the family goes through from start to finish in this movie as they try to find balance between encouraging and supporting their son's love and gift for chess and trying to provide a "normal" childhood for him at the same time.
The movie is well-acted and has a surprisingly well-known cast considering it is such an unknown movie.
If you give this film a chance, you will not regret it, 2007-09-03
I watched this movie several times when I was a kid and I remember liking it. I will admit that I loved chess and that probably made me biased towards it.
Two days ago I watched it again for the first time in maybe a decade. And there's a question that I've been asking myself: Now that I'm an adult and not that interested in chess do I like it as much now as I did when I was a kid?
Honestly, no. I like it even more now. And that's because this film is not really about chess. It's about life. It's about the people who influence us, our fears, our struggles, respect and even compassion towards each other, and trying to decide what really is important in our lives. Knowing a little bit about chess might enhance your pleasure in the film but it also might not: chess is really only the context of the story.
This film also has what seems like flawless acting. The actor who plays the chess genius Josh (Max Pomeranc) might have given the most believable performance any kid has ever given in any movie. Ever.
Of the 38 films that I have reviewed so far, there is no film that I recommend more than Searching for Bobby Fischer. I may not be as good at chess as I once was but for your next move, I have a strong recommendation: buy this film.
3 of 11 customers found the following review helpful:
 not that good, 2007-08-20
My rating is based on how I feel about the film, but I'm writing this review to set a few things straight. First of all, there are two people portrayed in the film that are really ill-served by it: Josh's rival, who's real life name is Jeff Sarwer, and Bruce Pandolfini. Far from the brooding, dark-stepchild demeanor of the rival character in the film, Sarwer was actually a very lively, energetic, happy-go-lucky boy. Probably more importantly: he did not actually lose the 1986 primary championship game to Josh Waitzkin. The game was a draw, and since both players had not lost a game and Josh was the higer rated player, the championship went to Josh. In fact, Josh has never beaten Jeff Sarwer; they played twice, with Jeff winning the first game and Josh drawing the second for the championship that year. Jeff Sarwer has a website with links to the actual games he played against Josh, as well as personal information about himself which fans of "Searching for Bobby Fischer" might avail themselves to peruse.
Second, Bruce Pandolfini taught both children. He was also at least twenty years younger than Ben Kingsley in the film, not Irish, and much taller. And to the best of my knowledege, Pandolfini never resorted to silly, melodramatic tactics like sweeping the pieces off the board in front of an eight year old student and asking him to find the mate-in-four. (Since Pandolfini has a cameo in the film I assume, however, that it had his approval.)
Finally, one of the major themes in the book is the relative poverty and squalor that chess players live and work in in this country because Americans don't take chess seriously. (Or didn't at the time?) This topic is repeated almost to a fault in the book, yet the film's settings are all ninteenth-century mansions or churches. You'd probably have a hard time getting real estate like that in New York even if you were Microsoft. Try this sentence from the beginning of chapter 5: "Beyond a door padded against slamming with wads of newspaper and silver duct tape, the best players were in a sorrowful front room over a pizza parlor, with discolored wall paneling, peeling paint, torn rugs and electrical wires dangling from holes in the ceiling."
For those reviewers who thought that the film was inspiring and taught important lessons about life: it is just a movie. It has very little to do with life except being able to make a lot of people feel squishy inside. The movie has even less to do with chess.
1 of 1 customers found the following review helpful:
Searching for Bobby Fischer, 2007-08-15
This movie is one of the best movies I've seen in a long time !!! It makes you happy, sad ,it makes you cry and it is an excellent example of how family life should really happen. It also makes you think. I loved it. It's exceptional.
2 of 2 customers found the following review helpful:
"Then your job is harder", 2007-08-03
This movie tells the story of Josh Waitzkin and it is based on the book with the same title written by his father. If you have read the book, you will certainly notice that the adaptation for the movie was flexible and does not really follow he facts, but it sure does make the story more exciting.
The film starts at the time after Bobby Fischer withdrew from the international chess scene and went into seclusion. After winning his title, Fischer had many disagreements with FIDE (International Chess Federation) and did not show up to defend his title against Karpov. As a result, he lost the title and left a huge crowd of fans, that had taken up chess after and American defeated the seemingly invincible Soviets, without a hero to carry their flag.
In this setting we find small Josh Waitzkin (Max Pomeranc), who picks up chess from watching people playing in the park and soon shows his innate ability for the game. His parents soon find themselves in unfamiliar territory and have trouble coping with the requirements and stress even young chess players face. In an effort to help their son cultivate his gift, they contact Bruce Pandolfini, one of the most recognized chess coaches in the US (if you go to a bookstore and look for chess books you will see several written by him).
This is when the search for Bobby Fischer within this child begins, and the journey could not be better. Kingsley, Mantegna and Pomeranc are all very good in their roles and give their characters with the right amount of emotion and passion. But if I had to pick a performance, it would be the one by Laurence Fishburne, who plays a character that will remain imprinted in the memory of all those that watch this movie.
The fact that Pandolfini is presented in a slightly negative light, compared to reality and the modification of the end of the story do not really detract from the overall quality of the production. If you love chess, this movie is a must, but even if you do not, I bet you will really enjoy it.
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