愛のエチュードのレビューは！？

30代 男性さん
【THE LUZHIN DEFENSE Is in Memory.】 Set in 1929 in the Lake Como region of Northern Italy, the story revolves around the World Chess Championships. Socially inexperienced and inept, the chain-smoking Luzhin proposes marriage and, surprisingly, Natalia accepts. But there's opposition in the form of Luzhin's former manager, Valentinov (Stuart Wilson), who is determined to see him lose. The suspense intensifies as the contest comes down to Luzhin and Turati (Fabio Sartor), the Italian Grand Master. Under intense mental pressure and becoming increasingly unstable, the obsessed Luzhin devises a brilliant set of moves, which come to be known as the Luzhin Defense. Checkmate!! From the nicotine stains on his fingertips to his disheveled clothes and clipped, mono-syllabic speech, John Turturro is a superb actor, but he goes overboard in demented eccentricity, muttering to himself and spinning circles in the rain, while Emily Watson exudes the required propriety and nurturing instincts. Young, chubby-faced Alexander Hunting acquits himself admirably as the young Luzhin in flashbacks. Based on "The Defense" by Vladimir Nabokov, adapted for the screen by Peter Berry and directed by Marleen Gorris ("Antonia's Line," "Mrs. Dalloway"), it's as slow and ponderous as the game it depicts. Ms. Gorris is particularly heavy-handed in her use of Alexandre Desplat's evocative musical score. So, on the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "The Luzhin Defense" is a sedate, simplistic, even dispiriting 5. If you're intrigued by chess, I recommend renting "Searching for Bobby Fischer" (1993), a far superior film.★★★★★ The romance between Natalia and Luzhin is believable, if off to a slow start. There's some mature sensuality, but nothing graphic, but the themes and pacing are slow enough to make this one for adults who don't mind plenty of plot in their films. Recommended.