Average Rating: 5.9/10
Reviews Counted: 71
Fresh: 41 | Rotten: 30
Tuturro and Watson play well off each other in this intriguing and well-crafted film.
Average Rating: 6.1/10
Critic Reviews: 23
Fresh: 14 | Rotten: 9
Tuturro and Watson play well off each other in this intriguing and well-crafted film.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 1,178
A lush historical drama from Dutch director Marlene Gorris, The Luzhin Defense is set in Como, a gorgeous northern Italian lakeside town located at the foot of the Alps. The year is 1929, and Alexander Luzhin (John Turturro) is a talented Russian chess player travelling to Como by train for the World Chess Championship. Also on his train is Natalia (Emily Watson), who is journeying to Como to meet her mother Vera (Geraldine James) at their posh lakeside hotel. Vera wants Natalia to settle down
Apr 20, 2001 Wide
Sep 18, 2001
Sony Pictures Classics
All Critics (85) | Top Critics (28) | Fresh (43) | Rotten (30) | DVD (8)
Makes up for a creaky structure with the intensity of emotion and psychological nuance provided by two of our finest screen actors.
It plays a predictable, if pretty, game.
Pretty much just a string of words and ideas and stick-figure characters who never become fully formed.
As brave as it is affecting.
When Luzhin's old chess teacher shows up, the movie becomes a slow-motion wreck.
If The Luzhin Defence falls short of being totally absorbing and compelling, it's surely because it's so difficult to translate Nabokov's view that we are all pawns in the big game.
Turturro supplies some good moments, but without a believable emotional core the film falls short
Lyrical and affecting, and profoundly in touch with the miracle and curse of a fragile, fanatical artistic sensibility.
Vale por completo la pena, y, si gustan del juego ciencia, es una cinta obligada.
More lyrical and affecting than the stiffly contrived A Beautiful Mind. Profoundly in touch with the miracle and curse of a fragile, fanatical artistic sensibility.
A dishonest adaptation of an unsentimental book.
Fantastic film, John Turturro should have got an Oscar for his portrayal of a troubled chess master. Honestly, it?s much better than it sounds!
October 2, 2009Super Reviewer
THE LUZHIN DEFENCE A very good movie. An interesting story, funny and sweet in places, albeit disturbing in many aspects as well. It is based upon a novel by Vladimir Nabokov and concerns underlying themes of love and family, dysfunctional personalities and relationships, and vulnerable people. John Turturro gives
December 31, 2009
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