Brooklyn Castle (2012)
Average Rating: 7.5/10
Reviews Counted: 50
Fresh: 49 | Rotten: 1
Brooklyn Castle is a warm, engaging, and even uplifting documentary about chess-playing whiz kids.
Average Rating: 7.7/10
Critic Reviews: 23
Fresh: 22 | Rotten: 1
Brooklyn Castle is a warm, engaging, and even uplifting documentary about chess-playing whiz kids.
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Average Rating: 4.1/5
User Ratings: 2,112
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Brooklyn Castle is the remarkable and improbable true story of I.S. 318 in Brooklyn. The school, where 65% of students live below the federal poverty level, has the highest ranked junior high chess team in the nation. The heart of the film is the engaging young students who populate the team: Rochelle, who has the goal of becoming the first female African-American chess master; Pobo, the team's charismatic leader; Justus, an entering student who must manage the high expectations that come with
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All Critics (53) | Top Critics (23) | Fresh (49) | Rotten (1)
Brooklyn Castle is inspiring stuff that grabs you by the throat and will leave you cheering - quietly of course. No shouting in a chess match.
Top CriticThere's a general spirit of triumph and perseverance to "Brooklyn Castle" that's inevitably uplifting.
"Brooklyn Castle" easily checkmates your inner cynic.
Katie Dellamaggiore's lively and affecting documentary introduces us to a cast of characters that's very winning (in both senses of the word).
It's not To Sir, With Love: It's fierce ambition, the channeling of emotion, and hours of drilling.
We meet five of the team's members and several of their teachers; by its end, you'll be rooting for them all.
... a powerful and positive story about dedicated teachers helping kids succeed no matter what their circumstances
Like chess, not exactly a high-energy experience but seeing what these kids accomplish, seemingly against all odds is breathtaking all the same.
...provides a corrective to the popular image of American schools as obsessed with sports and popularity, and it makes the strongest possible case for funding after-school activities.
Chess, brilliant young students and great teachers potent mix.
The I.S. 318 team? A delightfully motley, vulnerable, multicultural bunch, whose addiction to chess has allowed them higher aspirations for top high schools and, eventually, college and careers. You will root for them like crazy.
"BROOKLYN CASTLE is a compelling, engaging and inspiring Documentary, featuring Junior High kids that you can relate to. Even if you don't know the game of Chess all too well, it won't stop you from enjoying this pleasant film."
Brooklyn Castle provides a snapshot of indomitable American can-do attitude, and gives one hope.
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October 19, 2012:
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