Review of Pawn Sacrifice (2015) by Dawdlingpoet — 25 Nov 2021

This is an interesting character driven biopic, based on real events. Of course its mainly about chess but it's also about getting an idea of the main character's mindset. It's pretty clear from early on that he has some personal issues and paranoia is an obvious factor at play. It's frustrating watching someone with a clear talent take the decisions and do what he does. I did feel somewhat sorry for him, which is perhaps surprising given his attitude but I understand that people don't necessarily realise that what they believe to be true, isn't necessarily so.

I thought Tobey Maguire was a good choice of actor to play the main character, Bobby Fischer. I also thought there was some good cinematography. There are subtitles on screen at times, due to the Russian language being spoken, with Russian media shown reporting on what was happening at the time.