Dubbed the "Mozart of chess" because of his seemingly natural gifts, chess prodigy and current World Champion Magnus Carlsen doesn't have the compellingly tormented charisma of a Bobby Fischer. Yet director Benjamin Ree's documentary portrait is often fascinating, especially when exploring just what makes this Nordic super-geek tick. At the age of 13, Carlsen gained notoriety for playing champ Garry Kasparov to a draw, and from then on just kept getting inexplicably better, his mind working in ways that flabbergasted even the most astute experts. Although Ree's conservative Scandinavian sense of detached objectivity occasionally threatens the film's dramatic pacing—he's often too reticent to probe into Magnus's intensely inward-looking personality—thankfully there are enough dramatic set pieces of Carlsen besting his foes to give a good idea of his extraordinary capabilities. In one segment, Carlsen goes to Harvard and beats 10 of the world's best chess players in simultaneous games—while blindfolded. And his centerpiece performance in the 2013 World Championships in Chennai, India, boasts high drama, marking one of the most extraordinary comebacks in the history of chess. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (M. Sandlin)
Magnus
(2016) 76 min. DVD: $19.95, Blu-ray: $24.95. FilmRise (avail. from www.amazon.com). Volume 33, Issue 2
Magnus
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