Searching for Bobby Fischer

Joe Mantegna.  Joan Allen.  Ben Kingsley.  Lawrence Fishburne.  David Paymer.  William H. Macy.  Laura Linney.  Anthony Heald.  Dan Hedaya.  Austin Pendleton.  Tony Shalhoub.  Even if you don’t know anything else about it, this cast should be enough to get you to queue up Searching for Bobby Fischer.

Setting the cast aside for the moment, Searching for Bobby Fischer is a wonderful film, and one I revisit every few years.  In fact, I’m surprised I haven’t written about it before.  Bobby Fischer, as you may recall, was the greatest chess prodigy of his time.  He was (and is) also a deeply maladjusted man who went on to lead what appears to be a very unhappy life.  Josh Waitzkin, who is real, was a chess prodigy whose family spared him that fate.  This is their story, based on the book by his sportswriter father, Fred.

It’s a story about Josh, and the pull he feels among the various adults who try to mold him, to teach him, to love him, to push him.  More importantly at this stage in my life path, it’s about parenthood and helping your child grow into himself without forcing him to grow into you.  Fred (Mantegna, in the role that made me a lifetime fan), you see, is awestruck by his son’s talent.  He tells a teacher (Laura Linney, just starting out), “He’s better at this than I have ever been at anything in my life.  He’s better at this than you’ll ever be, at anything.”  Joan Allen, as Bonnie Waitzkin, fears for what her husband and the men he trusts might unwittingly do to her son.  And Josh (the fine Max Pomeranc, who has not gone on to pursue a career in acting) just wants to have fun, play chess, be a kid, and please his parents.

The film cuts to the secret heart of parenting, which is that nobody actually knows what they’re doing.  All we have are our own experiences of childhood, maybe some books we’ve read, and our instincts.  We as parents have our passions and our ambitions.  We can get carried away.  Sometimes, we can’t find the line between our children’s best interests and our own.  Fred blows right through it, and Bonnie, as a good partner must, reels him back.

The film works as a life lesson, but it also works as a simple narrative.  Josh seems real, as do the people in his life.  Josh's chess education and matches feel important and thrilling, even for those of us without a deep appreciation of the game.  The conflicts build from the characters, as opposed to being inflicted on them because good screenplays are supposed to have conflict. This is a compelling film, one that has me laughing, crying, and thrilling, as appropriate,on queue.

But back to the "life lesson" stuff: Searching for Bobby Fischer offers real wisdom, and it has taught me different lessons as I've moved along my life path.  I love this movie, and I look ford to discovering what it has to teach me when I'm a grandfather.

Dave

While DAVE may, technically, be a romantic comedy in that it's romantic and everything turns out right in the end, it isn't particularly funny. It's, well, it's congenial and comfortable, like a golden retreiver that puts its head on your knee, looking for a scratch behind the ears.

DAVE stars the eminently likeable Kevin Kline as the titular character, a regular guy who doubles for the President on the fateful night when the Chief Executive goes down with a brain anyeurism. Before he really knows what's happening, he's been pressed into service as a stand-in President by marvelously evil Chief of Staff Frank Langella (in a career-resurrecting performance). Wouldn't you know it, Dave's a better president than the President. Add in some domestic conflict with an estranged first lady (Sigourney Weaver, excellent as usual), some fuzzy politics about full employment, and some wonderful character moments with Charles Grodin as a small-time accountant who advises his friend to "Get out of here as fast as you can," and you have a congenial, comfortable romantic comedy that's as warm as as pair of good slippers.

DAVE works for many reasons, not the least of which being the balance between Kline's charm and Langella's menace. Kline's one of the most likeable actors working today, and he uses that likeablility to make us buy speeches and moments that we'd reject from a lesser actor. Langella strikes just the right chord of menace for a romantic comedy - scary enough to create dramatic tension, yet not so evil as to blow the film's mood. It's great work, well directed by Ivan Reitman, and the whole thing is a pleasure to watch.

As far as romantic comedies go, it's a classic.

Breach

BREACH, based on the true story of the Robert Hanssen Treason Investigation, features Ryan Philippe as the young FBI agent assigned to Hanssen’s staff for the sole purpose of investigating him. He’s an interesting enough fellow, but Chris Cooper, as Hanssen, blows him and everyone else off the screen every moment he’s up there.

The story itself, of the biggest spy investigation in FBI history, makes for an interesting tale. Add a sense of verisimilitude gained by using many actual DC-area locations and paying attention to geography (When Hanssen, stuck in traffic, grouses that he could walk to FBI headquarters in ten minutes, I thought, “Well, maybe 15.” That’s pretty good, seeing as how a popular television series like 24 expects us to believe that Jack Bauer can make from LAX to Hollywood in five.), and I believed I was watching a reenactment of events, not a dramatization.

BREACH is cast with a number of respected character actors, including geek favorite Gary Cole, but Chris Cooper deserves praise for creating a Robert Hanssen that’s completely believable, corrupt, and more than a little sympathetic. Cooper first came to my attention in the magnificent LONE STAR, and since then, he’s made a career of playing multidimensional, conflicted character with whom we can invest. Watching him play the warning signs I learned about in basic counterintelligence classes (and which anyone can learn by enjoying a visit to DC’s exceptional Spy Museum), I saw the bitterness, the vanity, the twisted sense of duty, the rage at marginalization I was taught to look for in people with access to sensitive information. I knew that Hanssen was a traitor, an accessory to murder, and a generally unlikable character, and I expected him to get his comeuppance. I didn’t expect him to break my heart, as he does here. Truly, Chris Cooper is one of the best actors working in American film.

I have a transatlantic flight coming up, and I think I’ll spend part of it watching the commentary with Eric O’Neill, the FBI agent played by Philippe. I want to see just how much of I was watching really happened.

Interesting aside: At the Spy Museum, they show a video interview with one of the women who first figured out that Hanssen was a spy. She had been conducting interviews with the (very large) suspect pool, and one of her stock questions was, “If you were going to spy on America for the Russians, how would you do it?” People really seemed to groove on this question, taking it as an interesting thought experiment and providing detailed, creative answers. Hanssen was the only interviewee who clammed up and got combative. That was the “A-ha!” moment that, eventually led to his arrest. Fascinating stuff.

Kinsey

Liam Neeson stars in 'Kinsey,' but Laura Linney walks away with the picture.

Linney plays Clara, a character who goes from bright young grad student to steady grandmother, and whose life transitions we accept every step of the way.

Don't get me wrong: Neeson is a fine Professor Kinsey, and at no point did I not buy him in the character. It's just that while his character had a more dramatic life than Linney's, hers had a richer inner life.

The movie itself is full of surprises. First, the supporting cast is absolutely first rate. I mean, look at this slate: Timothy Hutton, Peter Sarsgaard, Chris O'Donnel, Heather Goldenhersh (who plays a minor part well, as she did in 'The Merchant of Venice'), John Lithgow, Tim Curry (who doesn't ham it up, for a change), Oliver Platt, Dylan Baker, and Veronica Cartwright, among others. Second, I absolutely expected Curry to twirl his moustache and collude with Kinsey's boss to make life tough on our protagonist: didn't happen. Third, the movie deftly handles its own subject matter, finding an adult footing without veering into sensationalism.

Well done, Mr. Condon. I look forward to seeing your next film.