#Queen of katwe reviews movie#
#Queen of katwe reviews full#

The other actors all played a terrific part in the movie and it was so lovely to see all the real life people stand beside each actor who played them at the end of the movie.ДЄ Disney produced movie, IвЂ™d love to see more movies like this being made. SheвЂ™s a natural born talent and suited the role perfectly.

The role of Phiona was played byВ Madina Nalwanga and she did an amazing job.

It also taught them to never give up and that you can have anything in life if you work hard for it. Firstly, it gave them a chance to see how other people live and the troubles they face in every day life. Both of my children love playing chess so I thought it might be of interest to them but they enjoyed the movie for many other reasons. You may think chess might be a boring subject matter but this movie is much more than that. He goes on to become her coach and confidante and also has to make a few life changing decisions along his way in life.

#Queen of katwe reviews full#

NairвЂ™s epilogue during the end credits, a mini bliss-out, is emblematic of the entire film: she avoids the sentimental and instead delivers something wonderfully full of sentiment.She discovers a small group of children playing chess in a church community group, run byВ Robert Katende who sees a a natural talent for the game in Phiona. Their work feels rooted in the culture, and they avoid a sense of canned вЂњadults in a kidsвЂ™ storyвЂќ generalitiesвЂ¦ theyвЂ™re glorious. While they play roles that could ostensibly be clichГ©s (warm noble man and unsentimental loving mother), they add specific touches that make the characters authentically African. Both actors have natural authority and estimable technique that contribute hugely to the success of the film. David Oyelowo, the very best thing about Selma, plays her coach and Lupita NyongвЂ™o, one of the many great things about the stunning 12 Years a Slave, plays her mother. SheвЂ™s aided greatly by two skilled pros who play off her joyfully. She seems equal parts calm and charismatic, and her performance feels fully lived-in. Newcomer Nalwanga has an effortless screen presence, and a wide, beautiful face that is perfect for the camera. Even those moments are few and far between: you feel powerfully her passion for the story, the actors, and the real people, where not only is everyoneвЂ™s heart in the right place, but itвЂ™s all commandeered by an artist in full control. But Nair maintains her ground for the most part: you feel like her few dips into the treacly were perhaps the result of notes from Disney execs, a bit of a compromise on her part to deliver to them something marketable. There are a few movie-movie moments here and there, and when the kids of Katwe go their first big chess tournament halfway into the movie, suddenly traditional movie music swells up and you fear the film might unravel.

Working with cinematographer Sean Bobbit ( Shame and 12 Years a Slave), she keeps her cameras gliding but also knows when to hold powerfully on a face. ThereвЂ™s no sense of superiority where Nair feels she has to вЂњexplain AfricaвЂќ to the viewer, yet she whisks you into the fray with sweet immediacy. The setting just ISвЂ¦we see the chaos, the busy and annoyed residents, the markets, the work and the hustle, and it just serves as texture for the story. Nair sees the beauty of this slum and its inhabitants shes doesnвЂ™t clean it up for the cameras, but she doesnвЂ™t glamorize it either. Nair shot this film in the actual slums of Katwe in Kampala, Uganda, and her love for the place, the people, and the culture is unmistakable. This true story of a poor Ugandan girl (played here by newcomer Madina Nalwanga) who becomes a candidate master at chess has all the markers of the usual Disney underdog story, and you expect all the typical manipulation that comes with it.Д«ut most films arenвЂ™t directed by Mira Nair, and she turns Queen of Katwe into something rare: a true story that plays authentically and simply. Usually adjectives like вЂњinspirationalвЂќ and вЂњcrowd-pleasingвЂќ make most serious moviegoers want to go running straight for the hills, and indeed the trailer for DisneyвЂ™s Queen of Katwe made me shudder.