Magnus

I loved this film, it is entertaining and emotional. I found myself completely on Magnus' side by the end of the film; I felt like a sudden avid chess fan! It is a great film for all the family.

'Magnus' explores his passion and individuality that leads an audience to fully understand why he is the number 1 chess player worldwide; the film unfolds adding narrative upon narrative, layer by layer so I, sitting in the audience, was continually surprised.

I also learnt a lot about chess but also about drive, passion and obsession. It is by following a linear structure with flashback, that Benjamin Rees, the director, allows us to concentrate and follow his journey from protegé to his differentiated self; the emotional aspect of the film is also about his internal journey from boy to man. It is left up to us to emotionally connect to Magnus' journey. We are not told, we see and experience which is the essence of a good film.

'Magnus' works on so many levels but overall it is a thrilling journey about a desire to be the best in the World. In fact I want to see it again. I understand it took 10 years to film and the Executive Producer is a chess player too. The passion behind the camera is realised in front of it too. The audience at the London Film Festival bursts into spontaneous applause as the titles began to roll.

Highly recommended!

I started watching this documentary because of my interest in how Artificial Intelligence and human intelligence relate to each other. After watching this documentary for a couple of minutes I realized that it was about that boy my dad talked about many years ago. He told me then, that one of the best chess players in the world was a young boy. The documentary shows his road to his participation in the World Chess Championship 2013 and also about how he developed as a human being. It tells even a little bit about how he developed after 2013. It also gives a lot of hints about why Magnus is special and why he's called "The Mozart of Chess". That's what I really liked about this documentary. Besides that I also liked that it shows an exciting story, probably because I didn't know that how the story would end. I only knew about the fact that he was that young boy that my dad had talked about. Although I do appreciate the chess game, I am just a recreational player, that understands the difference between recreational players and people that start feeling the need to find out their FIDE-rating. This documentary shed a new light on my understanding of the difference between FIDE-rated players. Finally, I liked it that although this documentary is about a chess player, it's most probably not necessary to be a chess player to watch it. It's worthwile to anyone who's interested in watching what someone encounters in trying to reach their top.

81% on RT. 7.1 on IMDB. 52% on Metacritic. 92% of google users liked this movie.

This guy deserves more recognition. Hollywood should make a movie about him; such a movie if made right would make a lot of millions and would inspire a whole generation of chess players in the U.S.

I liked the fact that this documentary film showed videos of Magnus as a kid and as he was growing up and I liked that they showed all of his games as a candidate and all his games against the world champion. And the ending was well made too.

The guy has been world champion since 2013 and is currently holding three world titles.

I cannot wait for part II of the 2020 Candidates Tournament to resume when covid-19 permits it. It is clear that Maxime, Ian, or Fabiano will win to challenge Magnus. If it is Ian vs. Magnus, it will be epic!

Conclusion: highly recommend this documentary film. Very enjoyable. I do not play but I am inspired to learn.

9/10

I dislike documentaries generally but decided to watch this because of the subject matter. It is a fantastic film! I will probably view it again soon. It was very emotional, in a very positive way. You see how much is at stake for these world class chess players. The footage of Magnus and his family from early childhood to chess champion was utterly unique. So much better than a movie.

This documentary examines the life of Magnus Carlsen, world chess champion.

The reason why it does such a good job portraying his rise to fame is because his family has quite a lot of documentary footage starting from his early life to world champion. The story is thus illustrated quite well. It manages to convey the chess world along with the stress that can come at the top levels.

One thing I really enjoyed about this documentary was its positivity. I dislike documentaries that focus strongly on drama and failure just to bring in the audience. Far too obvious and off-putting. This is generally just a very nice, uplifting story.

It's hard to find anything wrong with it. I might have enjoyed a bit more commentary on some of the games, but otherwise it is nearly perfect.