Pawn Sacrifice

2015 • 115 minutes

About this movie

In a gripping true story set during the height of the Cold War, American chess prodigy Bobby Fischer (Tobey Maguire) finds himself caught between two superpowers when he challenges the Soviet Empire. Also starring Liev Schreiber and Peter Sarsgaard, PAWN SACRIFICE chronicles Fischer's terrifying struggles with genius and madness, and the rise and fall of a kid from Brooklyn who captured the imagination of the world. (Original Title - Pawn Sacrifice) - 2014 Bleecker Street Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Ratings and reviews

I loved the movie but the photography and crazy colors were stupid. Why can't they make movies with good photography colors like they used to?? Everything is dull, muted, weird shades, no consistency, not sharp...and they move the cameras so you get dizzy.

From the dread and terror felt, and the Hellish existence when in psychosis and isolated from those that love and care about us, this film tells the story of one mentally ill mind to great effect. While the 'true story' nature of the film may be debatable, or what might be a few tropes at times (may be, but tropes aren't by themselves bad), the narrative of this film remains solid throughout. As do the performances of Maguire, Schreiber, Sarsgaard, and Stuhlbarg. From my own perspective as a mentally ill person, the performance of Maguire here, with its amazingly accurate while still, and most importantly, subtle portrayal of a person separated from sanity, resonated with me as the most sincere and best crafted performance ever to portray a mentally ill person going through crisis in a major film.

Interesting story, but not a great film. It made me interested in learning more about Fischer.