Warsaw, Poland, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962. Josh Mansky, a troubled math genius and former US chess champion, is recruited to hold a dangerous public match against the Soviet champion, while playing the deadly game of espionage hidden in the darkest shadows of a hostile territory.
Bill Pullman
Joshua Mansky
Lotte Verbeek
Agent Stone
Nicholas Farrell
G. Moran
Corey Johnson
Donald Novak
Robert Więckiewicz
PKiN Director
James Bloor
Agent White
Aleksey Serebryakov
Evgeniy Sidikhin
Cezary Kosiński
Aleksandr Lobanov
Wojciech Mecwaldowski
Magdalena Boczarska
Andy Beckwith
John Benfield
Ludwik Borkowski
Małgorzata Klara
Ksawery Szlenkier
Marcin Juchniewicz
Policjant przy blokadzie drogi
Maurycy Łyczko
Jonathan L. Ramsey
journalist at the airport
Director, Screenplay
Łukasz Kośmicki
Screenplay
Marcel Sawicki
March 28, 2022
6
What does make this espionage thriller remarkable is it's plausibility... Now, in 2020, we would never give a second thought to an international chess competition but like many others, I recall the fuss made when the world championships really did become an intellectual version of the cold war between the USSR and the USA. Go back to the Cuban missile crisis, when the world was on the brink of an holocaust; and "Josh Mansky" (Bill Pullman) is a neglected US chess champion called upon to take on a Russian Grand Master "Gavrylov" in Warsaw. It's clear from the outset that this is far more than just a series of games of chess; though the strategy and nerve garnered from his skills playing certainly add to those required to carry through with his perilous mission and sure don't do "Mansky" any harm. The one thing it does lack, however, is any degree of sophistication. The Russians are portrayed as little short of ignorant brutes and Pulman's alcoholism, though central to his character, is overplayed to the extent that it distracts quite a bit from the subtlety of the scheme - and makes him a really unlikeable hero. Not sure I'd watch it again, but it does give quite an interesting retrospective on the world frequented by John le Carré!