Recensioni de* critic*

Nair struggles to sex-up the highly unexciting game of chess as a spectator sport, and she doesn't expend too much screen time explaining the rules in any detail. Still, if the purpose of the film is to get kids to put down their Uzi 9mms and pick up some nice, hand-carved antique chess pieces, it certainly has merit on that level.

Nair films the streets of Kampala with ardent discernment, in shots that are unfortunately edited to slivers. Lupita Nyong'o brings vital energy to the role of Phiona's mother; the entire cast, directed with grace, fills the soundtrack with a virtual symphony of voices.

Its revelations come fast and furious. Notably Lupita's arched-back, hand-on-hip gait, the one I've seen on women of the diaspora the world over, atop which she can balance a day's worth of produce, the well-being of black people everywhere, and five gallons of water. There's Mira Nair's uncanny ability to find a kind of plainspoken prettiness in the tonal spectrum of poverty-stricken spaces; so much of the way she renders the characters and the space testifies to a mastery of their environment.

It's easy to lament Queen of Katwe's often formulaic, sometimes ham-fisted presentation, designed as it is to produce maximum tear-wringing and foster as much excitement as can be derived from the sight of two people silently sitting over a chequerboard full of oddly shaped little pieces. Yet the best of it also displays many of the virtues of Nair's finest films, most notably the empathy for young characters and the vividness of setting of her international breakthrough Salaam Bombay! (1988).

In Queen of Katwe, the director Mira Nair captures the vitality and improbable beauty of the dense, crowded street culture in an East African slum without sentimentalizing its people or underplaying their deprivations and hazards. It's an elating achievement, and it's all the more remarkable because she pulls it off in the context of an underdog sports movie.

It's a series of small victories where a large one isn't possible, a paint-by-numbers scenario with enough flourishes in the margins to make a difference. It isn't Salaam Bombay! — it can't be Salaam Bombay! — but the same sensibility is present, insisting on a deeper social context than the material demands. Families will come away with the requisite cheer, but they'll understand one part of the world a little better, too.

The kids may not be great actors, and their accented English can be difficult to understand, but their natural spirit and gumption are unteachable qualities that many Hollywood-trained children lack. David Oyelowo and Lupita Nyong'o are reliably superb in the critical supporting roles of Mutesi's chess coach and young mother, respectively.

Though the film's use of chess as a metaphor for life is rather strained ("You must never surrender," Robert tells Phiona as she topples her king), its perception of chess as a symbol of class divide, and of the resilience displayed by those for whom educational and economic opportunities are scarce, is potent.

Mira Nair's Queen of Katwe is a true-life tale transformed into an inspirational fable. That's not novel for the movies, but in this director's hands, the results are mostly enchanting... You don't come to a movie like this expecting complexity, depth, or even subtlety. But Nair brings both simplicity and verve, and in relating this charming story, she knows to portray joy and heartbreak as parts of a human continuum.

Director Mira Nair, operating far from her Indian base, doesn't know from irony and seems to like making essentially storybook movies that manipulate family drama with comedic touches for the maximally uplifting third act. She is, in effect, the perfect Disney director. The irresistible ringer for gullible audiences is that the movie is based on a true story.

The Disney-produced story simply lacks any genuine sense of urgency. No amount of strong performances and good vibes can hide the sense that we're just watching a paint-by-numbers routine. Nair puts so much effort into galvanizing the movie's central figures that the slightest hints of conflict register as little more than an inconvenience.