Word: luzhin
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...place that appreciates his genius enough to take pity on his madness. So, Mama, should you let your baby grow up to be a chess champion? Tough question. In his novel The Defense, Nabokov, who loved the game as much as I do, has the hero, the chess master Luzhin, go mad when he is struck by the realization of the "full horror and abysmal depths of chess...
Natalia’s strength is put to use in defending her mate from a variety of onslaughts. When Luzhin’s former coach, Valentinov (Stuart Wilson II), arrives with a malevolent desire to see his pupil defeated, he warns Turati that Luzhin plays poorly under pressure. Therefore the two conspire—Turati will play an aggressive game in order to create pressure on the board; Valentinov will disrupt Luzhin’s affair with Natalia in order to create pressure off the board...
...strengths of The Luzhin Defense are its enigmatic plots and themes. The film maintains the same suspense of the high stakes games of chess and fills the screen with complex interrelationships between characters. All of its thematic gestures seem to feed off of each other, each adding another layer of depth. The film, for example, raises a subtle contrast between Luzhin’s brilliant capacity for strategy and his crippling psychological illnesses. This contrast plays out along the constant parallel between Luzhin’s life and chess games and richens the film’s ending...
...only flaw in an otherwise fabulous film is the character of Luzhin. Though very endearing, he seems to be more or less the run-of-the-mill eccentric. Turturro plays the role powerfully and convincingly, but the character is nonetheless a little flat. Instead, it is Watson’s performance that steals the show with an original combination of grace, tenderness and intelligence. The Luzhin Defense is slated for release in theaters April...
...Luzhin Defence...