Brief Story Line
The series was set in the 1960s and focused on Elizabeth Harmon (Anya Taylor-Joy - Split, Playmobil: The Movie etc) a young woman who was famous for being a chess prodigy. Being an orphan since the age of 9, Beth was put in an orphanage where she befriended an older girl named Jolene (Moses Ingram). It was during that time when she first learnt how to play chess from the janitor Mr. Shaibel (Bill Camp - The Outsider mini series, Molly's Game etc).
Into her teenage years, Beth was adopted by Mrs. Alma Wheatley (Marielle Heller) and her husband Allston (Patrick Kennedy) and rekindled her passion for chess. She would later on meet with other chess players who would have impact on her life, such as Townes (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd), Harry Beltik (Harry Melling - Harry Potter movies etc) and later on the US champion and former child prodigy Benny Watts (Thomas Brodie-Sangster - The Maze Runner trilogy, Nanny McPhee etc).
So what would happen to Beth and her quest to be the best player in the world? Find them all in this awesome series.
End of Brief Story Line
Well this mini series was truly amazing. From the early part where we were shown Beth Harmon going to face a mature professional chess player I already felt excited. Then when it started to show her from young age, it was really intriguing how she would become the person that we were shown glimpses earlier. The 9 year old Beth was played wonderfully by Isla Johnston who showed maturity for actress of her age. I was amazed by how good her performance was, making me really convinced that Anya Taylor-Joy was the bigger (and later mature) version of her.
The story telling was easy to follow with the focus mainly on Beth's struggle from her childhood, to teenage years and later her early adulthood. What I really liked about the series was the fact that the chess was not simply background. The games played were real and the terms mentioned were factual (I myself can play a bit so I understood some of the terms). In order to make the series realistic, the makers enlisted some professional consultants, including one of the most famous ex World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov. I understand the series also got praise from various chess players due to the realistic feel.
Another factor that made me love the series was the brilliant performance from Anya Taylor-Joy who managed to play this introvert-genius character from her teen years to adult convincingly. Her various expressions such as when looking at her opponents while crushing them, or her apparent anger when defeated or during her happy/frustrated times were truly spot on. No wonder critics were also full of praise with this series, especially on her performance. The rest of the cast also did their best to match her. I like Bill Camp in here as Mr. Shaibel and also Marielle Heller as the adoptive mother. Out of topic note: I felt Thomas Brodie-Sangster in here look a lot like a young David Spade.
From what I saw in the closing credits, the series was based on 1983 novel of the same title written by Walter Tevis (his other novels which were made into movies were The Hustler and The Color of Money). Originally it was also intended to make this into a feature film, but later decided to make a mini series instead which I must say was a good choice as we could capture the essence better. Btw, the episodes were having various durations from 46 minutes to a little over an hour, but due to its limited 7 episodes only, it did not take too much time for me to complete. My favorite episodes were the 7th which gave a wonderful finale as well as a perfect ending to my opinion, and also the second episode that showed the first time Beth was in real tournament.
The 1960s setting also look realistic with the good settings and costume effects. However, I think the matte painting (or CGI) were not too good as they looked animated (this was apparent in Mexico city). The musical score was fabulous and most effective in many scenes. The drama was pretty intense, with few emotional moments in one or two episodes.
Overall this was one amazing mini series which managed to combine drama and the chess sport, and done so superbly that audience could be mistaken for thinking this was based on real life and not a work of fiction. For me it's one of those high quality series that I would recommend to others who enjoy such attributes in a series. So if you are one of those, this one is definitely a great option.
Mike's movie moments rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
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