A Little Game

A Little Game is nice, family-friendly (for the most part) movie with quality acting. The young stage actress, Makenna Ballard makes her big screen debut as Max, a 10-year-old Manhattenite. Olympia Dukakis as her "Ya-Ya" and F.Murray Abraham as her reluctant mentor. I watched it with my own 10-year-old who was engaged watching Max maneuver school, family, and life in general. From a mom's perspective, I thought the movie delivered a wonderful glimpse of the world through a young girl's eyes which, realistically, would include the fantasies playing out in her mind. From a Christian perspective, I was taken by surprise by a scene in which the parents share a beer. This doesn't offend me; I'm just not used to seeing casual alcohol use in a family movie. Also, there is a very brief - almost subversive - mention of the neighbor boy's two moms, as well as a cutaway of Max picturing herself with two dads. Though a common theme today, I thought it should be mentioned for families that prefer to filter worldly ideals. Overall, the importance of family, friendship, and love was portrayed stronger than anything else.

My perspective for full disclosure: I'm a NYC native who learned how the pieces move from my older brother in 1968 at age 6, improved my understanding of the game during the Fischer boom, and was a below-master level tournament player until I was 30. So I am familiar with the territory and wanted this to be good.

I totally get that this was made for an audience of children, so we need not have great expectations of it. The problem is writer/director Evan Oppenheimer is obviously enthralled by the metaphor of learning to navigate the chess board as a cognate of learning to navigate life itself; yet his portrayal of the games, and the teaching process of park hustler Abraham, suggests strongly he has never played the game himself, has little to no understanding of it, and did not bother to ask anyone qualified for help in that area. If his goal was to introduce a childhood audience to a beautiful strategy game, he wound up giving most of them at once both an overly simplistic and overly complicated, and ultimately just unrealistic idea of what playing and learning the game is really like. If his goal was something else entirely, he did not need to butcher the presentation of chess as a vehicle for whatever that goal may have been. If you're looking for a good (and far closer to realistic because it was a true story, written by someone who lived it) movie about a child chess prodigy, see "Searching for Bobby Fischer" instead.

The talents of Abraham, Dukakis and Garofalo were badly wasted on this silly script. At least new star Makenna Ballard made an auspicious debut as the protagonist, outshining the established adult actors.

I know nothing about chess, but I still enjoyed watching every second of the movie. I wish I do because I know I will be able to enjoy the film even better. I saw the first few minutes on FB reels and got hooked. This movie is one of a few that I would re-watch. I love the little story of each character. I love Max's character and her development throughout the movie. I love how Max stayed true to her words. You don't have to defeat someone to prove that you are better. There is no drama. Watch it with a light heart, and you will feel fulfilled. The movie portrayed a peaceful city life. I wish the world would be safe enough for us to enjoy little things.

First of all it is a disgrace that her credit is so far down on IMDB's list of actors for this movie. She is the main character, not some side character. Hers should be the first credit listed.

But other than this and an obscure TV movie that I can't find anywhere, she only has two credits to her name. Does anyone know why?

She was outstanding in this sweet little movie. She could express different emotions just with slight changes of facial expressions. I was expecting to see more from her, as she proved to be an excellent actress in this movie. She should have had a long, successful career ahead of her in films. I hope nothing bad happened to her.

Anyway, if you get a chance, see this movie. It is uplifting, but not overly saccharine. Even an old gruff guy like me enjoyed this fine film immensely.

The film is about a ten year old girl in Greenwich Village in New York City named Max. Her parents are played by Ralph Maachio and Janeane Garofalo. They're working class people. Her father is a building superintendent and the mother is a chef at a restaurant. Her grandmother was played by Academy Award winner, Olympia Dukakis who rarely gets to play Greek-American roles. Max gets accepted into a private school uptown where she tries to fit in. The film has a lesson about life through the game of chess. F. Murray Abraham played the unlikely older man who helps Max learn the game and rules about life. The film looks like it was shot entirely on location in New York City.