reiher@ucla-cs.UUCP (04/09/85)
The last of the movies I saw at Filmex (no cheers of relief,
please) won this year's Acadamy Award for Best Foreign Language
Film, but I could have found more deserving candidates among the
films I saw at this festival, and Filmex didn't draw that impres-
sive a field of foreign films this year. "Dangerous Moves" was a
surprise winner; "Beyond the Walls" and "A Wartime Romance" were
greater favorites. "Beyond the Walls" possibly succumbed to con-
troversy concerning its portrayal of Israeli treatment of Arabs,
and the Soviet "Wartime Romance" may have lost votes due to the
relatively anti-Soviet climate of America. Despite the fact
that, unlike most categories, Acadamy voters are required to see
all nominated foreign films, I don't believe that "Dangerous
Moves" was even the best of the nominated films.
"Dangerous Moves" isn't a bad film, but it isn't anything
special. It is a fictitious portrayal of a world chess champion-
ship rather like the Karpov-Korchnoi match, and it tells its sto-
ry in a straightforward, uninflected way. The elderly Soviet
champion (Michel Piccoli) is challenged by the vigorous, young,
arrogant emigre (Alexandre Arbatt). The tournament becomes as
much a psychological contest as a chess match, with the Soviet
entourage and the emigre's organization jockeying back and forth
to gain an advantage. Lighting levels, types of pieces, parap-
sychologists, tardiness, choice of openings, even throwing away
hard won advantages in position and material are used for purely
psychological purposes. Finally, to cover the champion's physi-
cal collapse, the Soviets use the challenger's wife, incarcerated
in a Soviet asylum, as a final weapon.
The fundamental problem with "Dangerous Moves" is that
Richard Dembo, the writer/director, doesn't really have anything
important to say about his subject and doesn't know how to make
the story itself strong enough to carry the film without an
underlying theme. Dembo's story lacks any real points of in-
terest, beyond the question of who wins the tournament, and that
isn't enough.
Dembo chooses to avoid focusing much on chess itself, in the
hopes of reaching a wider audience. Other than an occasional
aside from the spectators, we are told little about the chess
strategies used by the players. The chessboard seems a peri-
pheral object, and I suppose this comes as close to a theme as
Dembo has. Perhaps he wished to demonstrate that all games, when
they become important enough to their players, are really decided
at a level above that of the game's mechanics. Not a bad theme,
but Dembo certainly doesn't develop it, not even to the extent
that I'm sure it's what he was getting at. Chess fans are also
likely to be bemused by the rarity of draws in this tournament.
In addition to Piccoli, the cast features Leslie Caron as
his wife and Liv Ullman as the wife of his opponent. Caron has
very little to do, and Ullman is given an underwritten part.
Both actresses do their best with what they're given. Piccoli
and Arbatt are both good, as is the supporting cast. None of the
performances are exceptional. Neither are any of the competent
technical aspects of the film.
"Dangerous Moves" is sort of the Swiss equivalent of a TV
movie. It seems to be saying something, but really isn't about
anything at all. I doubt if anyone will be offended or bored by
it, but I also doubt if anyone will be moved or intellectually
stimulated by it. A distinct lack of passion, or even real in-
terest, on the part of the filmmakers cripples "Dangerous Moves".
As the winner of the Acadamy Award this year, "Dangerous
Moves" is likely to get the normal kind of release afforded to
prestige foreign films, which means a month or so in big cities'
specialty theaters and a week or two in smaller cities theaters.
I would not count on it becoming a staple in revival theaters.
--
Peter Reiher
reiher@ucla-cs.arpa
{...ihnp4,ucbvax,sdcrdcf}!ucla-cs!reiher