Two Cents is an original column akin to a book club for films. The Cinapse team will program films and contribute our best, most insightful, or most creative thoughts on each film using a maximum of 200 words each. Guest writers and fan comments are encouraged, as are suggestions for future entries to the column. Join us as we share our two cents on films we love, films we are curious about, and films we believe merit some discussion.
The Pick
We don’t know if you’re aware of this, but there’s this little movie coming out today called Wonder Woman. Ever heard of it? Yes, 17 years after X-Men kicked off the comic book feeding frenzy, Diana, Princess of Themyscira, finally has her own movie. And according to our team, a damn good one!
It’s shameful that it took 17 years of superhero cultural domination before we got a female-led, female-directed tentpole (the closest we’ve gotten before this is probably 2005’s Æon Flux from Karyn Kusama). To mark the occasion, we decided to highlight another film by and about kick-ass women.
Queen of Katwe didn’t set the box office on fire when it was released in 2016, but it attracted widespread critical acclaim for its triumphant underdog story.
Directed by Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding, The Reluctant Fundamentalist), Queen of Katwe stars newcomer Madina Nalwanga as Ugandan chess prodigy Phiona Mutesi, who rises from her poor upbringing in the slums of Katwe to become an international chess champion. With leading turns by David Oyelowo and Lupita Nyong’o as the girl’s coach and mother, respectively, Queen of Katwe marked a bold step for representation behind and in front of the camera.
A combination of sports film and family drama, Queen of Katwe really isn’t like anything else in the Disney library, so it seemed like a perfect film to highlight as we celebrate the arrival of Diana Prince to our silver screens.
We put it to the team and our guests to tell us if this Queen lived up to the talent of those involved, or if this is one game that needs to be re-set.
Next Week’s Pick:
Tale as old as time, song as old as rhyme, as many versions as…thyme. Rhymes are hard.
Anyway, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is coming to home media next week, fresh off a theatrical run where it made all of the money. Just, all of it.
But rather than spend more time on that version of the story, we’re going to watch the weird-ass French version. Christophe Silent Hill/Brotherhood of the Wolf Gans directed his own version of Beauty and the Beast (or, La Belle et la Bête) in 2014. The film is now streaming on Netflix Instant, so give it a watch and send your thoughts in by midnight Thursday!
Submissions can be sent to [email protected]
Our Guests
Adrianna Gober:
Queen of Katwe, based on the true story of Ugandan chess champion Phiona Mutesi, is a powerfully moving document of struggle and success, at turns tragically sad and joyfully uplifting. It deals honestly with issues of class division, prejudice, sexuality and barriers to social mobility, as well as coming of age and the interior struggle of the personal cycle of success and failure. The acting is stellar throughout, featuring particularly compelling performances from young lead Madina Nalwanga, Lupita Nyong’o and the show-stealing David Oyelowo as chess mentor Robert Katende.
Another virtue of the film is its authenticity; filmed on location in Uganda and featuring music by many African artists, Queen of Katwe takes great care to foster immersion and identification between the audience and the lives, struggles and environments on the screen.
All in all, Queen of Katwe is a beautiful, emotionally rich film with humor and heart. (@jeerthelights)
The basic structure of a sports film is an easy one build a film off of, but the execution is in the details. I can’t speak for how much dramatic license was taken, but Queen of Katwe benefits from being able to spread its story out over several years as chess prodigy Phiona Mutesi hones her skills and grows in confidence as she tries to find a path leading out of the slum she calls home. Not only that, it’s also supported by the towering granite pillars of Lupita Nyonog’o (12 Years a Slave) David Oyelowo (Selma) as Phiona’s proud mother and soft-hearted coach respectively. They only share a handful of scenes together, but when they do, it’s so delightful that you’d think no young actor could possibly hold court with these two.
But then Madina Nalwanga shows you the inner workings of Phiona’s mind through a glance or a frown, or her budding confidence in a smile or a snap of her fingers, and before you know it, she’s walking away with the film as casually as her chess pieces steel those of her opponents.
I wish I’d more diligently sought this out on release, not just because a movie with nary a white face on display is something we could do with more of in a very white-dominated Hollywood, but because Queen of Katwe really struck a chord with me. I happen to be an easy mark for underdog films and sports movies, but under Mira Nair’s assured direction, I’ve never been more entertained watching people play chess.(@BLCAgnew)
Husain Sumra:
Queen of Katwe may be about chess, but it’s really about identity. Phiona is a girl who stumbles into her passion, she’s naturally gifted at chess and she really enjoys it. But with her success comes an identity crisis. Is this really who she needs to be? Is this what she can really do forever? It’s a crisis that’s mirrored by her teacher, a former soccer player who desperately wants to teach children chess but has to advance his engineering career to support his family. It’s a sports movie that’s less concerned with the sport and more concerned with the passions, and identity crises, that come with being a successful athlete. Plus, everyone is absolutely incredible in this movie. (Husain Sumra)
The Team
Queen of Katwe is a perfect example of the type of film I’d never have chosen to watch on my own and may never watch again, yet truly appreciate and enjoy. It’s extremely well done, very uplifting, and features incredible performances. There’s little negative to say about the film, as it’s the type of film that tells us an inspiring story in a dynamic way, something Disney has always excelled at.
The only thing that holds the film back from being a staple in future family viewing is my personal tastes, which tend towards superheroes, scares, action, and laughs. However, I won’t leave the room if and when we choose to put this on during a family vacation or get together, as it was fulfilling in many ways. In fact, when I head to the Outer Banks this Summer with my ROKU in hand and am asked for a recommendation for an extended family evening selection in the living room, I may have to make this the top of the list.
So, as much as it pains me to admit, great selection this week, Austin and Brendan! (@ThePaintedMan)
I don’t want to repeat too much of what’s already been said, so I’ll just note that like many of our contributors, I really didn’t know what this film was before sitting down to watch it. It was a Disney film about chess in Africa, and that was about it. Queen of Katwe truly surprised me, sucking me into the narrative within only a few minutes. You typically don’t think of chess as being the most ‘cinematic’ of activities, but Nair brilliantly zeroes in on the players rather than the game, so that even if you have only a rudimentary understanding of how chess works (*raises hand*) you understand what each game means to the film’s overall narrative.
I’m not ashamed to say that this film made me choke up multiple times throughout. Even the goddamn end credits made me tear up. Queen of Katwe may not rewrite the playbook for underdog sports stories, but it connects with something profoundly warm and human, something essential. I loved it. (@TheTrueBrendanF)
Watch it on Netflix:
https://www.netflix.com/title/80106180
Next week’s pick: