Searching for Bobby Fischer

⭐ 9/10

This was an awesome sports movie! A semi-true story of a young kid who is amazing at chess, but its actually more about the parents and the competitive toxic nature of a sports parent. The kid here is super sweet and kind, and loves chess, but doesn't like the idea of making other kids sad when he beats them. Meanwhile the dad is pouring all his time and energy in to his son's chess career, but its pretty nuanced. He's not a bad dad I don't think, but he has this stand-out line where its clear his son being this good at something is what is driving him, giving his son all the tools to go as far as he can in this thing that he is dominant at. He's certainly not portrayed to be as crazy as the other chess parents, but he obviously has a moment where he snaps and becomes like them. Completely predictable but it all lands because of good writing and performances.

If I had a single gripe its that they don't show the chess board enough! They film the games really well and make it exciting, the final game especially actually show you the moves in a way I could track and I could be excited when I understood the deep line Josh had seen several moves before. As a chess player it was great, and Jess enjoyed it as well, a thrilling finale, I just wish more of the games were given that amount of insider attention.

Otherwise this cast is completely stacked, and I thought every scene served a purpose, in a movie where it would be easy to mail-in certain aspects of it. Lawrence Fishburne as the chess hustler in the park is really great, and I thought he could have gotten more screentime. I like how he is on the side of the joy of the game, where as Ben Kinsley's coach character is the severe coach trying to grind all the fun out of the game. Just a great dynamic to flip between, with the dad in the middle.

There is a villain kid here too that starts as so hateable, but by the end you see the similar life he is having to Josh and it makes you wish children's sports would just be abolished. Honestly, these parents are tame compared to some of the parents I saw during my time playing sports, and now that I have a kid it absolutely breaks my heart to imagine a child treated this way, a pawn for their parent's own ambitions. But again that's what I liked about the dad here - he isn't good at chess.  He sees the possibility for excellence and doesn't want anything to stand in its way, which makes his ambition seem less selfish, even if it is a bit misdirected. I'm not doing a good job explaining, and it might sound like I'm gearing up to be a crazy dad with some stupid "greatness" justification, but its not that.

One final thing, this movie made me feel like a kid in how its shot. Lots of shots from the ground up, or beneath the parents as the short kid who can barely see above the table reaches up towards the board. Reminded me of E.T. or something, a wandering camera like the eye of a child that should be focusing on the board but is curious looking around the room.  Again, I don't have the language to explain, but it brought something childlike out of me.

One of those "they don't make them like they used to" movies, very 90s in all the best ways.