One of the most amazing things about this film is that John Sham SPEAKS IN HIS NORMAL VOICE! No horrible accent, just nice, normal cantonese. Wow. When I first heard him speak I had to rewind beceause I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

Now, onto the film itself. I found this film...a little incomprehensible. Maybe I'm just not analytical enough as a movie-goer and missed the symbolism, but I didn't understand at all the link between the genius boy chess player of the modern day, and the genius chess player of the cultural revolution. The past sequences are quite well-done and dominate about three-quarters of the movie but then it all begins to fall apart. Tony Leung plays the heroic chess player to the hilt, it falls into sentimental mush, then the weird and rather unsatisfying ending.

Overall, probably a little TOO wannabe artistic for me. 5/10