Reel life: Bobby Fischer comes to life in 'Pawn'
<b>Mini-review: 'Pawn Sacrifice'</b>
The best chess movies aren't really about the game itself. Take Steve Zaillian's 1993 fact-based "Searching for Bobby Fischer," a fascinating probe into how a child learns from parents and mentors.
Likewise, Chicago native Edward Zwick's "Pawn Sacrifice" is about how the U.S. government quietly weaponized chess prodigy Bobby Fischer as part of a public-relations campaign to fight Communism during the Cold War.
Zwick's drama opens with erstwhile Spider-Man Tobey Maguire playing a clearly emotionally disturbed Fischer. Filled with paranoia, he lurks about in a darkened room, hearing noises, acting jumpy, fidgety, his irises twirling like pinwheels in a tornado.
This teaser whets our interest in "Pawn Sacrifice" before it flashes back to Fischer's youth when he started playing chess at age 6 in Brooklyn with his left-wing activist mom (Lily Rabe) before shooting to the top in a manic, explosive career culminating in the challenge to Russian chess master Boris Spassky at the 1972 World Chess Championship, the game world's version of heavyweight boxing.
Peter Sarsgaard plays Fischer's friend and coach Father Bill Lombardy. Michael Stuhlbarg plays his manager Paul Marshall, who tiptoes around the player for fear of setting off a paranoid rant, or worse, a fitful refusal to continue playing.
Through Marshall, some vague wing of the U.S. government funds Fischer's campaign to unseat Spassky (brilliantly brought to life by Liev Schreiber speaking what sounds like impeccable Russian) in the "Match of the Century," a 21-game competition in Reykjavík, Iceland.
If Fischer wins, he will end 24 years of Soviet domination of the World Chess Championship and strike a public relations blow for the American democratic system.
Zwick, the craftsman filmmaker behind "Glory," "Blood Diamond" and "The Last Samurai," doesn't bring much innovation to the biopic, but delivers a strong, efficient story buttressed by excellent performances and production designer Isabelle Guay's canny reproduction of period scenes and artifacts.
Period tunes from the Doobie Brothers, Jefferson Airplane, Al Green, Creedence Clearwater Revival and others are appropriate, but recycle the standard go-to songs to establish the time period.
Maguire delves into the soul-tearing madness that clearly enveloped Fischer during his later life. His performance dominates the movie like Fischer's skill dominates the chess board in a surprisingly tragic twist on a winning story.
Besides, chess movies are the only game-driven films that make golf pictures look action-packed.
<b>"Pawn Sacrifice" opens at the River East 21 and Century Center in Chicago, plus the CineArts 6/Century 12 in Evanston. Rated PG-13 for language, sexual situations, smoking. 104 minutes. ★ ★ ★</b>
<b>Film critics notebook:</b>
"Cooties," the new horror comedy written by Mount Prospect native (and "Glee" creator) Ian Brennan, opens across the nation this weekend, but not, as it turns out, in Illinois. You can see it if you travel to Kansas City or Columbus, Ohio. Or just hit the video-on-demand button at cootiesmovie.tumblr.com/.
The 13th annual Woodstock International Film Festival runs Wednesday, Sept. 23, through Sunday, Sept. 27, with movies shown at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. at the Woodstock Theatre, 209 Main St., Woodstock. The fest features films from Russia, Argentina, Georgia, Poland and Mali - all nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award. Matinee and senior tickets $6; evening shows $8. Go to classiccinemas.com.
"Arcade Fire: The Reflektor Tapes" - a doc about the making of Arcade Fire's album "Reflektor" - shows at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 23, at seven Classic Cinema suburban theaters. Admission $10. No passes. Go to classiccinemas.com for locations.
<i> Dann Gire's Reel Life column runs Friday in Time out!</i>