‘Maybe it’s better not to be the best. Then you can lose and it’s OK...’
As previously discussed, I absolutely adore a sports movie. Normally, when reaching for a film in this genre, one might turn to boxing or baseball, basketball or American Football. Basically, any sports movie that has featured Kevin Costner in some capacity. In many ways then, Searching for Bobby Fischer breaks the mould. Other than the recent success of The Queen’s Gambit, chess has been relatively unexplored on the big screen. Perhaps that’s because this film has already covered the subject so comprehensively…
Josh Waitzkin (Max Pomeranc) is a chess prodigy with a bright future… if only he can keep his Queen on the board long enough to fulfil his true potential. With help from a stern chess tutor (Ben Kingsley) and a streetwise hustler (Laurence Fishburne), plus the guidance of his domineering but loving father Fred (Joe Mantegna), Josh attempts to navigate the ultra competitive world of professional chess tournaments.
Director Steven Zaillian, working from his own screenplay (adapted from a book by Fred Waitzkin – Josh’s father in real life), is better known as a writer than a director, but that perhaps works to his favour here as the workmanlike direction serves the story. And this truly is a great story. A veritable rags to riches tale that is brought to life with a wonderful cast on the top of their game. Kingsley is great, just the right amount of severity and compassion, whilst Fishburne has a ball in his role as an unconventional confidante.
Searching for Bobby Fischer hasn’t endured like some of the other sports movies from that era, but it absolutely deserves to be remembered a minor classic of the genre.
Checkmate.