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| Tookey's Review |
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| Pro Reviews |
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| Mixed Reviews |
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| Cast |
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| Released: |
1993 |
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| Genre: |
DRAMA
SPORTS
RITES-OF-PASSAGE
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| Origin: |
US |
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| Colour: |
C |
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| Length: |
110 |
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Well-meaning, middle-class parents (Joe Mantegna and Joan Allen) discover their son (Max Pomeranc) is a genius at chess.
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Reviewed by Chris Tookey
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| The directorial debut of Steven Zaillian, who wrote the epic Schindler's List , is at the other end of the cinematic scale - a minutely detailed analysis of what it means to be a gifted child. Zaillian's script is extremely clever, constantly inverting audience expectations, and neatly avoiding facile moral judgments. The acting throughout is wonderful. This is a lovely, thoughtful, touching little film. Conrad Hall's camerawork, though a trifle too claustrophobic at times for no reason, is mainly excellent, as is the editing. The one fly in the ointment is Hollywood's most pompous composer, James Horner, who has the same effect that he had on another fine film, Edward Zwick's Glory , of turning affecting sentiment into clod-hopping schmaltz. |
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, Joe Mantegna 
, Joan Allen 