AllMovie

This gripping Polish biography profiles the life of chess master Bronke Pekosinski. What makes it fascinating is that the lead is played by the elderly master himself. Though crippled and diagnosed with Alzheimer's, Pekosinski plays himself in each time period from infancy to old age; he changes neither his calm demeanor nor his clothing in the film but he does have other actors around him to re-enact his life. The story is framed by a chess match in which Pekosinski begins to tell the opponent about his fascinating and often tragic life.