The Queen's Gambit (Miniseries)
Nov. 5th, 2020 10:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakMore in the spirit of distraction from fingernail biting.
This was delightful and beautifully acted and filmed. Yes, I could nitpick over a lot of individual aspects: In the true spirit of Jesse Pinkman keeping his teeth white despite years of meth addiction, our heroine Beth here is the the type of addict and drunk who even in the episode where she hits rock bottom still looks beautiful (though with more eyeliner), and when Harry says her skin looks like that of his alcoholic father, it's a blatant case of tell over show since her skin still looks porcellain, not to mention that Beth when finally quitting booze and drugs seems to do it by willpower alone (well, that at chats and squash with Jolene), with not even an inconvenient sequence of sweaty detoxing. And while that speech of Jolene's about how she's not Beth's guardian angel and has a life of her own lampshades the writers being aware of the black best friend whose sole purpose in the narrative is supporting the white lead trope, that doesn't change they're still fulfilling said trope.
But you know, these didn't outweigh all the advantages for this viewer (as always, your mileage may differ.) This is a miniseries centred around a messed up heroine whose central passion is chess, and while there are other relationships important to her in the course of the episodes, Beth/Chess remains the undisputed OTP in exactly the same way it would be were she Bernie instead of Beth. (Beth is fictional, but looking back at Pawn Sacrifice, the movie about real life wunderkind Bobby Fischer, was instructive in this regard. In terms of screentime, what's escalating mental illness for Bobby Fischer is escalating drug addiction for Beth Harmon in screen time while chess reigns while everything gears up to the big showdown with a Russian opponent as the climax, and in both cases, said Russian opponent isn't vilified by the narrative but presented as a sympathetic character.) This alas is still noteworthy because films and miniseries about women still tend to be more about their love lives than about whatever is supposed to be their driving passion/achievement in life.Anyway, not here, though Beth's relationships (both platonic and sexual) do get screen time - they're just not presented as what drives her. Another very endearing aspect of the series to me was that most of Beth's competitors as she rises in the chess world end up as her supporters and friends, which makes for a glorious coming together in the final episode. There is just something not just satisfying but, to use a clichéd word, empowering in it, and note that it's mutual. Beth usually is a prickly character, most of the time, but two lovely scenes place her - in different episodes - with on the one hand old veteran grandmaster, and on the other hand with the next kid/teenage prodigy. In both cases, they don't just tell her they admire her but she tells them the same - the old man hears about how she's studied his games, the young kid that chess with him has been the best she's ever played - and it just gave me this sense of a (good, not vicious) cycle. And a future, despite at various points in the miniseries people inevitably and not wrongly bringing up the chess players who went mental and/or destroyed themselves otherwise. This can happen, but it doesn't have to; Beth can also become the veteran making it into old age respected by their peers; she won't keep winning at infinitum any more than he did, but she, too, can hold out a hand to the future, and does.
Then there's Beth's complex relationship with her adoptive mother, Alma. Alma, who has real talent as a pianist but got stuck as a housewife in an about to end unhappy marriage, is already a borderline alcoholic when she adopts Beth (who got addicted to pills in the orphanage). Her being supportive of Beth's chess passion at first is mainly due to her realisation there's money in this, just as Beth being supportive of Alma is because Alma provides her with the freedom she needs (starting from writing her excuses for not attending school so she can go to tournaments). But along the way they came to care deeply about each other, and their later scenes are incredibly tender. Alma, of course, is another might-have-been for Beth; who'd she become if she didn't pursue her talent but tried to blend into the ordinary life. (Alma and a classmate of Beth's who ends up with marriage and children also illustrate that becoming an alcoholic is just as likely if you do that. It's not connected to Beth's talent - though for a long time, she believes it - but to all the trauma that happens to her early on.) So is Alma a "bad mother" (enabling and furthering Beth's addictions by never doing more than feebly saying "slow down a bit?" once she realises what's going on) or a "good mother" (supporting and, yes, loving Beth, ensuring that Beth notices the non-chess parts of life and her surroundings as well)? Both.
Beth is played by three actresses - Annabeth Kelly (Beth at five), Isla Johnston (Beth from nine onwards) and Anya Taylor-Joy (Beth from 15 onwards). Kelly just as a few dreamy fragment scenes, but Johnston has to carry the first one and a half episodes, and Taylor-Joy the rest - they're both fantastic. And sell so much in their intense staring sequences on the chessboard, somehow making each of Beth's matches different and individual in her reactions as well. (Other outstanding acting from a generally excellent cast comes from Moses Ingram - first female Moses I've come across - who plays Jolene both as a child and as an adult and whom one really wishes a series of their own for - , and of Marielle Heller, otherwise mainly a director herself, as Alma.
Lastly: the costuming - by a Babylon Berlin veteran, I believe - is gorgeous, making the most of 1960s fashion while also telling a story of just where Beth is in her emotional journey at any given point.
In conclusion: While we all wait, if you want to watch something, this would definitely be a good choice.
This was delightful and beautifully acted and filmed. Yes, I could nitpick over a lot of individual aspects: In the true spirit of Jesse Pinkman keeping his teeth white despite years of meth addiction, our heroine Beth here is the the type of addict and drunk who even in the episode where she hits rock bottom still looks beautiful (though with more eyeliner), and when Harry says her skin looks like that of his alcoholic father, it's a blatant case of tell over show since her skin still looks porcellain, not to mention that Beth when finally quitting booze and drugs seems to do it by willpower alone (well, that at chats and squash with Jolene), with not even an inconvenient sequence of sweaty detoxing. And while that speech of Jolene's about how she's not Beth's guardian angel and has a life of her own lampshades the writers being aware of the black best friend whose sole purpose in the narrative is supporting the white lead trope, that doesn't change they're still fulfilling said trope.
But you know, these didn't outweigh all the advantages for this viewer (as always, your mileage may differ.) This is a miniseries centred around a messed up heroine whose central passion is chess, and while there are other relationships important to her in the course of the episodes, Beth/Chess remains the undisputed OTP in exactly the same way it would be were she Bernie instead of Beth. (Beth is fictional, but looking back at Pawn Sacrifice, the movie about real life wunderkind Bobby Fischer, was instructive in this regard. In terms of screentime, what's escalating mental illness for Bobby Fischer is escalating drug addiction for Beth Harmon in screen time while chess reigns while everything gears up to the big showdown with a Russian opponent as the climax, and in both cases, said Russian opponent isn't vilified by the narrative but presented as a sympathetic character.) This alas is still noteworthy because films and miniseries about women still tend to be more about their love lives than about whatever is supposed to be their driving passion/achievement in life.Anyway, not here, though Beth's relationships (both platonic and sexual) do get screen time - they're just not presented as what drives her. Another very endearing aspect of the series to me was that most of Beth's competitors as she rises in the chess world end up as her supporters and friends, which makes for a glorious coming together in the final episode. There is just something not just satisfying but, to use a clichéd word, empowering in it, and note that it's mutual. Beth usually is a prickly character, most of the time, but two lovely scenes place her - in different episodes - with on the one hand old veteran grandmaster, and on the other hand with the next kid/teenage prodigy. In both cases, they don't just tell her they admire her but she tells them the same - the old man hears about how she's studied his games, the young kid that chess with him has been the best she's ever played - and it just gave me this sense of a (good, not vicious) cycle. And a future, despite at various points in the miniseries people inevitably and not wrongly bringing up the chess players who went mental and/or destroyed themselves otherwise. This can happen, but it doesn't have to; Beth can also become the veteran making it into old age respected by their peers; she won't keep winning at infinitum any more than he did, but she, too, can hold out a hand to the future, and does.
Then there's Beth's complex relationship with her adoptive mother, Alma. Alma, who has real talent as a pianist but got stuck as a housewife in an about to end unhappy marriage, is already a borderline alcoholic when she adopts Beth (who got addicted to pills in the orphanage). Her being supportive of Beth's chess passion at first is mainly due to her realisation there's money in this, just as Beth being supportive of Alma is because Alma provides her with the freedom she needs (starting from writing her excuses for not attending school so she can go to tournaments). But along the way they came to care deeply about each other, and their later scenes are incredibly tender. Alma, of course, is another might-have-been for Beth; who'd she become if she didn't pursue her talent but tried to blend into the ordinary life. (Alma and a classmate of Beth's who ends up with marriage and children also illustrate that becoming an alcoholic is just as likely if you do that. It's not connected to Beth's talent - though for a long time, she believes it - but to all the trauma that happens to her early on.) So is Alma a "bad mother" (enabling and furthering Beth's addictions by never doing more than feebly saying "slow down a bit?" once she realises what's going on) or a "good mother" (supporting and, yes, loving Beth, ensuring that Beth notices the non-chess parts of life and her surroundings as well)? Both.
Beth is played by three actresses - Annabeth Kelly (Beth at five), Isla Johnston (Beth from nine onwards) and Anya Taylor-Joy (Beth from 15 onwards). Kelly just as a few dreamy fragment scenes, but Johnston has to carry the first one and a half episodes, and Taylor-Joy the rest - they're both fantastic. And sell so much in their intense staring sequences on the chessboard, somehow making each of Beth's matches different and individual in her reactions as well. (Other outstanding acting from a generally excellent cast comes from Moses Ingram - first female Moses I've come across - who plays Jolene both as a child and as an adult and whom one really wishes a series of their own for - , and of Marielle Heller, otherwise mainly a director herself, as Alma.
Lastly: the costuming - by a Babylon Berlin veteran, I believe - is gorgeous, making the most of 1960s fashion while also telling a story of just where Beth is in her emotional journey at any given point.
In conclusion: While we all wait, if you want to watch something, this would definitely be a good choice.
no subject
Date: 2020-11-05 11:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-11-05 05:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-11-05 12:44 pm (UTC)When I looked up the wiki before watching, I was a little leery because most of the description of the guys seem to be competitor who becomes love interest or something to that effect but I was surprised that it kept focus on her and chess, even while suffering heartbreak/unrequited love.
Anya Taylor-Joy was literally a joy to watch.
p.s. I was surprised since I hated him in The Old Guard but I loved Harry Melling as Harry.
p.p.s. It's so different in tone but I sort of got reminded by the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer when watching this, especially the early eps.
no subject
Date: 2020-11-05 05:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-11-05 02:13 pm (UTC)Anya Taylor-Joy is fast becoming one of my favorite actresses--the things she does with her weird, beautiful, alien face! And I am terribly, terribly jealous of Beth's wardrobe.
no subject
Date: 2020-11-05 05:09 pm (UTC)Anya Taylor-Joy does look like an elf! In the best way. Or a Vulcan. Not of this earth, to be sure.
no subject
Date: 2020-11-05 05:29 pm (UTC)I am now desperately wanting Anya to guest star on ST as a Vulcan...
no subject
Date: 2020-11-05 02:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-11-05 05:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-11-05 06:31 pm (UTC)I'm getting to like mini-series - you don't get things dragged out to keep you watching. They tell their story in the length that suits it.
no subject
Date: 2020-11-05 08:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-11-06 06:37 pm (UTC)It also reminds me of when I watched Little Women last year, where the real OTP, instead of Girl/Boy, was Girl/Book, which I absolutely loved <3 More media like this please!
no subject
Date: 2020-11-07 01:22 pm (UTC)