England,
1991, 90 min
Shown in 1992
CREDITS
- dir
-
Gillies MacKinnon
- prod
-
Ruth Baumgarten
- scr
-
Frank Deasy
- cam
-
Rex Maidment
- editor
-
Michael Parker
- cast
-
Mark Rylance, Lynsey Baxter, Billy Boyle
- source
-
BBC Television
- gga award
-
Special Jury Award, Television: Television Feature
- premiere
-
North American Premiere
-
COMMENTS
Gillies MacKinnon in person.
OTHER
Scenes of a bleak childhood—a barrage of visual punches—begin this unsparing adaptation of boxer-chessmaster-writer John Healy's autobiography. Derided as a "Paddy" by his London schoolmates, forced into boxing by his violently domineering father, young Healy eventually turns to drink to fortify his courage and ease his pain. Descending into the “grass arena” of a vagrant, alcoholic life, he becomes trapped in a hopeless and increasingly frightening cycle of drinking and drying out. During a term in prison, a friendly inmate teaches Healy to play chess. Released from jail, Healy replaces his alcohol addiction with an equally obsessive pursuit: the mastery of the symbolic warfare of chess. With wry humor, Healy bears the clubby London chess scene's snubs, discovering at last the satisfaction, and limits, of victory. Avoiding the maudlin emotionality of the usual treatment of "uplifting” tales of personal struggle, Frank Deasy's spare, unflinching script and director Gillies MacKinnon's economic eye showcase an astonishing, intensely physical performance by Mark Rylance. As the adult Healy, Rylance bears in his hunched stance, haunted gaze and increasingly battered face the stigmata of a lonely spirit fruitlessly seeking emotional sustenance in a series of harsh, brutal worlds.
—George Eldred
FACTOID #273
In 2006 the Festival widened its scope, screening films at seven satellite venues throughout the city including an arts venue (Intersection for the Arts), a pub (Edinburgh Castle) and a fire station (San Francisco Fire Station #7).
