Watch The Luzhin Defence For Free

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Hi all I am a chess enthusiast since the age of about 6. I supposed I am quite obsessed by chess, but hopefully not as much as the central character in this film.In this film, the central character reflects a real chess player called Curt von Bardeleben who committed suicide in 1924. He is famous for a game he played against Steinitz, where a beautiful combination was played by Steinitz. Instead of resigning, he simply walked out of the tournament hall, never to return.The social ineptness of the central character is unfortunately a treat of some of the more serious Grandmasters you sometimes get in chess tournaments. Chess I suppose is a very big sacrifice, and you can sometimes end up imbalanced in other areas of life. A major example of this is the chess legend Bobby Fischer. Although a genius, he was also very disturbed in many ways.In the film, a World championship match is depicted, as between an Italian Grandmaster and Luzhin. The format is a knockout, which actually the world Governing body of Fide has sometimes employed as a format itself - going from 128 players to just 2 in the final. But this was a group knockout - which also depicts a realistic format, where the winners of each group play against each other.The position before adjournment makes for a fascinating chess puzzle in itself. In fact, I have done a youtube video about it, for you to explore the winning combination in detail - enjoy! http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=XZPtdtPhwdM Best wishes Tryfon

A brilliant chess player attends a tournament and falls in love with a woman he meets there. On itself this would be a pretty bad angle on a story. So, there is more. There is the fact that the chess player is also completely alienated from the world because of his brilliance at the game and the fact there is some history haunting the player.This film steps back and forth from romantic frivolity to tournament tension to historic events that shaped the chess player and works quite nicely. It's easy to grow attached to the two main characters and easy to believe they might hit it off together like the way they do in this film. The added effect of the tournament is very good too and creates a nice tension setting.I have no idea of the strength of the chess players as I don't play the game myself but it looks nice and believable. All in all, most of the film goes down very easily. It is also forgotten again very easily though. So it's nice to watch but nothing more than that.7 out of 10 chess players caught between a rook and a hard place

This is part of the game or sport genre that has enjoyed commercial success over the years. Only a few eccentricities manage to differentiate this from its sibling films, yet you feel that this could have been a lot more. Especially since its an adaptation of Nabokov. But it is simple melodrama. Predictable and sentimental. It could have had edge, seeing that it is about an obsession that leads to self-destruction. But it plays it safe and unintelligent.One interesting snippet, towards the end, was when Luzhin reads a letter from Valentino attempting to manipulate him into finishing the event. Luzhin burns the letter but the voice-over continues to play. You can see that he is being consumed by his own obsession, just as the letter is being consumed by the flames. The symbolism of Luzhin's king and queen chess pieces is rather heavy handed. The opening image: the light at the end of the tunnel, was an obvious presentiment of Luzhin's death.

The good news is that the movie is beautifully filmed, the settings and period clothing are luscious, Emily Watson gave us a solid performance, as did Geraldine James as her screen mother. Sadly, that's about it. John Turturro gave us yet another wild eyed outing. It's beginning to look like that's all he can do. The villainous mentor is clichéd and we never learned the reason for his rancor. Indeed, the premise of the love story, that is the genius fool snagging the lovely poised heiress, is trite and implausible. The wedding day sequence also made no sense. Play chess on your way to the church? How could that ploy even be advanced? Although some reviewers found the ending to be a release, I thought it was another hackneyed device. If you want to see a film about chess, I suggest "Searching for Bobby Fischer", for a love story about people in disparate circumstances try "Chasing Amy". If "The Luzhin Defence" is neither, then what is it?