Rematch, on Disney+

Garry Kasparov is a chess grandmaster, but he constantly battled Big Brothers throughout his life. First, he challenged the old Soviet regime and then he emerged as one of Putin’s most prominent critics. Along the way, he stood against nearly every totalitarian dictator on Earth as the chairman of the Human Rights Foundation. He was also seen as humanity’s champion during his matches against IBM’s AI supercomputer, Deep Blue. He easily won his first meeting with the computer then known as Dep Thought. However, their rematch was much more complicated. Creators Yan England, Bruno Nahon, and Andre Gulluni accentuate the controversies the six-episode “based-on-true-events” series, Rematch, which premieres tomorrow on Disney+ (after months of availability in international markets).

To this day, Kasparov probably remains the world’s most famous grandmaster, having eclipsed Bobby Fischer, whose years after his 1972 triumph were rather disappointing. Arguably, Kasparov’s victory over Karpov was an equal or greater victory for the free world over the Soviet regime. However, it did not come easy, as viewers eventually witness through flashbacks. Much to Kasparov’s annoyance, much of IBM’s gamesmanship away from the chessboard echoes the mind-games Karpov’s Soviet patrons tried to pull ten years earlier.

Kasparov considered his 1989 victory over Deep Thought to be an interesting experiment, but not particularly challenging, so he was not eager for a rematch. However, ambitious composite IBM exec Helen Brock recognized an opportunity to promote the brand (and the stock price) with the smarter, faster, more powerful Deep Blue. Of course, she had zero involvement with any of the actual programming. That was all the nebbish “P.C.” anonymously laboring for years in the metaphorical and literal basement.

P.C. stands for “Pretty Cringe,” which is harsh even among computer geeks. His new chess advisor, Paul Nelson, has grown bitter and anti-social, even by chess standards. He and P.C. could make a good team, but they are not the ones calling the shots. Obviously, Team Kasparov is out-numbered, so his manager-mother Klara Kasparova hires elite Australian sports agent Roger Laver to negotiate with Big Blue, but even he is stymied by their hardball methods.

Clearly, England, who helmed all six episodes, invites sympathy for Kasparov, even though he and lead actor Christian Cooke emphasize Kasparov’s high-strung neurotic mind-set, to an excessive degree. Obviously, the series focuses on the Deep Blue match, which is quite zeitgeisty given he mounting unease regarding AI. Nevertheless, it is frustrating the film almost completely ignores Kasparov’s invaluable advocacy for freedom and democracy. It is sort of like hypothtical films that solely focused on the [American] football careers of Jack Kemp or Byron White. A lot of stuff came after their pro-sports years—and the same is true for Kasparov.

Nevertheless, the scripts were the scripts—and Cooke is truly magnetic as the tightly wound grandmaster. He also shows a human side, especially with his thorny family relations, which he comes to embrace as a strength rather than a weakness, which is a quiet corollary subtly baked into Rematch.

Fantaspoa ’24: Mastergame

“B” is the sort of film character Garry Kasparov would probably approve of, and possibly relate to, as both a chess master and a human rights activist. Arrested during the Soviet crackdown on the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, the Catholic priest is being held in conditions of extreme mental and physical isolation. His only distraction is a slim book about chess. If that sounds familiar, it is because this film is also based on Stefan Zweig’s novella, “The Royal Game,” just like Philipp Stolzl’s recent Chess Story. However, Barnabas Toth takes Zweig’s themes in a very David Lynchian direction, while revisiting Hungary’s traumatic Communist history in Mastergame, which screens during this year’s Fantaspoa in Porto Alegre.

Istvan and Marta are two young anti-Communist lovers desperately trying to leave Hungary, before the Soviets seal the borders. Normally, you want to be on the “last train out,” no matter the cost, but there is something ominous about this train, beyond its Casablanca like collection of former revolutionaries, Communist spies, and petty criminals. A mild-mannered priest is also aboard (who maybe not so coincidentally bears some resemblance to Cardinal Mindszenty).

The priest is only referred to as “B” during the interrogations that make up Mastergame’s other timeline. According to his file, B withstood extraordinary physical torture while he was a prisoner of the Nazis, so they opt for different methods. They forbid the deeply humanistic cleric any human contact, even hiding the faces of his captors. His interrogator wants to break his spirit by severing his connection to humanity. However, the chance discovery of the chess book gives him something to occupy his mind.

If you know Chess Story or “The Royal Game,” you have a good idea of what is really going on, but the addition of the Marta-Istvan subplot adds an intriguing new dimension. In terms of tone, Mastergame feels very much like vintage Lynch ostensibly working in the mystery genre, as in Mulholland Drive. In fact, the skullduggery on the train is so well executed, Mastergame will be keenly suspenseful, even for the world’s greatest authority on Zweig. On top of that, setting the story amid the Hungarian Revolution adds a greater sense of grand historical tragedy.

Kevin Kline Speaks French: Queen to Play

The fact that the queen is the most powerful piece on the chessboard is surely not lost on Hélène. As a put-upon Corsican hotel maid with an insensitive husband, she could use some empowering. That she achieves through the game of chess in Caroline Bottaro’s Queen to Play (trailer here), which opens this Friday in New York.

To earn extra money, Hélène also cleans the villa of Dr. Kröger, a sophisticated American expat. Watching him play chess with his younger wife stirs something within her—perhaps longings for the sort of relationship she would like to have with her husband. Suddenly, Kröger’s wife is gone, but Hélène’s fascination with the game remains.

Of course, her hubby does not exactly share this budding interest, so her chess development is confined to late nights with the electronic chessboard. Frustrated, she approaches the increasingly sullen Kröger for a game. While initially reluctant, Kröger eventually becomes her chess tutor, sharpening her natural aptitude to the point he believes she is ready for serious tournament play.

To its credit, Queen takes the game of chess seriously instead of using it as a mere plot contrivance. The film’s best scenes show Hélène’s near obsession with the game, as chessboard patterns appear everywhere and common household items suggest problems from the game. However, aside from chess, we never really see her thinking strategically in her everyday life. Rather, she seems to simply react to events unfolding around her.

Throughout the film, audiences will have a good idea where it is headed, right down to the big match between Hélène and the arrogant chess master. Yet, Bottaro wisely never overplays her hand and resists the lure of cheap emotion. Never lurching into Henry Higgins territory, Kröger confines his mentoring to the chessboard and an occasional book recommendation. However, as written, Hélène’s husband Ange, played Francis Renaud, is largely clichéd and occasionally problematically brutish.

Still, Sandrine Bonnaire’s smart, down-to-Earth performance makes Hélène’s transition from mousy maid to self-confident chess master relatively smooth and believable. Sure to get attention for his first almost entirely French-speaking role, American actor Kevin Kline is also quite good as Kröger. In particular, the early scenes with his wife, played by the still very attractive Jennifer Beals, silently imply much history and romantic heat between them.

Indeed, Bottaro sets the wise and wistful mood quite effectively. It also looks quite elegant, capitalizing on its picturesque Corsican backdrop. A pleasant, if predictable story of a late-blooming woman finding her place in the world, Queen opens this Friday (4/1) in New York at the Lincoln Plaza and Angelika Film Center.