"You can tell this by watching him play some drunks in the park?"

Searching for Bobby Fischer is another film that had a major impact on my youth, and my craft. I first saw the film back in 1994 on VHS with my parents who had rented it for themselves for the weekend. Perhaps it was the cover I saw at the store, but something made me sit with the Family and watch despite the fact it was for old people. Much like when I joined them to the theater to see Forest Gump with their friends on some kinda double date, but I didn't care about being the fifth wheel I needed to see the film on the silver screen. Much the same happened again, as I was shopping at F.Y.E. and saw the DVD of Searching for Bobby Fischer, and within a split second it was in my hand.



Age nine, I am watching the film for the first time, and like a sponge I'm taking it all in. I see much of myself in the story of young Josh, as his pursuit and passion overtaking him. Without knowing it at the time this film much like Radio Flyer would greatly effect the way I see the world through the prism of my mind's eye, and the camera's lens. Age twenty-five, I am watching the film for the second time, and this time the full effect is hitting me just how much the film has influenced my perception of cinema and shaped me as a filmmaker. Teaching me to "play by the gut, and bring her out."



The film is about real life Chess Masters Bobby Fischer and Josh Waitzkin, and was Directed and Written by Steven Zaillian. Based on the book by Fred Waitzkin played byvJoe Mantegna, Joan Allen played his wife Bonnie, and Max Pomeranc steals the show as their son Josh whom several are grooming to become the next Bobby Fischer. Also staring Laurence Fishburne, Ben Kingsley, Laura Linney, Dan Hedaya, and William H. Macy as a Tunafish loving Father. The acting is superb all around, but for me the crew behind this magical film always stood out for me.



In my eyes the most important credit of the entire motion picture would have to be Conrad Hall, ASC the Director of Photography. His work as I realized some sixteen years later as I watched the film for the second time in my life was the single biggest influence on my composition tendencies. The scene above really struck me, as the architecture of the curved half-wall, and camera's subtle dolly movement focus your attention on Vinnie played by Laurence Fishburne. Free and yet trapped. Conrad's tendency to underexpose is something I've also found very ascetically pleasing and something I've taken to my own work. Steven Zaillian's misdirection and sense of the human spirt, as well as the amazing editing of Wayne Wahrman, A.C.E. also left major mark on me. Namely it the chess battle sequences in which quick cuts not only work, but are used to perfection. Nothing to cover-up, only to enhance.

"Look deep, Josh. It's there. It's twelve moves away, but it's there. You've got him."



On the production side of things. Above is a quick look at me shooting the Red Bull Flugtag in Saint Paul, Minnesota back on July 24, 2010. On the way is a little Noir Blanco from the city, to myself, and soon you. Same URL, some other time, stay tuned.

Luctor Et Emergo