Review of The Go Master (2007) by Rob F — 22 Aug 2009

This version is pointless. It as if the original movie's fixation on the war was too offensive, and thus had to be rewritten. The treatment of jingoism is flaccid, reports of atrocities such as Nanking were skipped entirely, and even the atomic bomb merited about ten seconds. Without treating WWII centrally, the motive behind all the mental conflict and the analogy with competitive sport is completely missing.

I believe that it is Go Seigen himself is in the first scene, and he was obviously consulted on this version. Perhaps this simply reflects the fact that he was preoccupied with cults and his job that he barely noticed the war.

The original award winning "The Go Masters" was a *great* movie. In spite of being very popular when coming out and winning awards world-wide, that movie can only be found used on VHS for over a hundred dollars each. Whenever a university library or rental place has it, that copy ends up stolen. Just re-release the original on DVD already.