Cinematography
Music
Editing
Screen Writing
Acting
Directing
From IMDb.com
The Dark Horse (2014) “A brilliant but troubled New Zealand chess champion finds purpose by teaching underprivileged children about the rules of chess and life.”
Queen of Katwe (2016) “An Ugandan girl sees her world rapidly change after being introduced to the game of chess.”
The similarities between these two movies is quite strong. Both involve a male lead giving his time to under-privileged kids and using the game of chess to help make them stronger and more mature. Even the victory laps are similar and perhaps really amazingly both films show at 2 hrs 4 min..
The differences are just as noticeable. The Dark Horse had a dark cloud flowing over it for most of the film. Shot in color, at times it almost seemed as if it was black and white. Queen on the other hand has bright colors and conveys exuberance and determination. Cinematography was excellent in both films but Queen gets the edge because of the shots of the marketplace and landscape.
The close-up shots in Queen convey the pathos and the joy of its characters. One gets as much, if not more, from the faces than the dialogue. This applies to all of the characters. The shots during the chess matches of both contestants provided stomach turning tension, anguish and then the excitement and joy of victory or the pure anguish of defeat. Viewers did not need to see the chess boards to know what was happening and what was in each of the contestants heads. A masterful job of acting, directing and camera work.
Editing was a little choppy at times but more importantly the cutter was not used enough. The film was too long and occasionally dragged.
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