Pawn Sacrifice

Last Thursday night I went to see the film Pawn Sacrifice at the Broadway.  It tells the true story of the epic chess tournament between American Bobby Fischer and Russian Boris Spassky during the height of the Cold War through the filter of Fischer's mental illness.  Tobey Maguire gives an incredibly nuanced performance (one of his best performances in years) as Fischer, a man who becomes incapacitated by his own paranoid delusions as government officials use him to score a victory over the Soviets in the wake of the Vietnam debacle.  Maguire portrays all of Fischer's eccentricities, such as demanding a match be moved because he can hear the sound of the television cameras, trashing his hotel room because he is certain that it is bugged, and battling reporters at the airport, without overshadowing the pathos of his isolation.  I was particularly struck by a scene showing Fischer cowering in a corner of his apartment tormented by the sound of the footsteps of people coming and going in the hall.  I also enjoyed Liev Schreiber's performance as Spassky because he was able to show both vulnerability and respect for Fischer's ability, especially in Game 6 when he concedes the match to Fischer. Their strong performances as men who were, themselves, used as chess pieces by their respective governments were compelling enough to make me invested in the outcome of a match conducted in near silence.  I, like many people in my screening, cheered when Fischer won!  The constant use of actual footage from coverage of the matches (there is a Forrest Gump moment with Dick Cavett) got old and the pop culture montages (especially the one with Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit) interspersed here and there were a bit cliched.  However, I would definitely recommend this film as a compelling biopic about a complicated man.