A folk hero gets his big screen reward in James Napier Robertson’s The Dark Horse, a typical inspirational fable made fresh by its New Zealand setting. (A hit in its home country, The Dark Horse and its Kiwi mate What We Do in the Shadows sit amongst New Zealand’s highest grossing films of the year. Don’t even ask how Aussie productions fared by comparison in 2014. Okay, I’ll tell you: terribly.)
Cliff Curtis takes on the part of real-life Gisbourne chess coach Genesis Potini, an enthusiastic moulder-of-minds almost undone by his debilitating, untreated bipolar disorder. Prescribed medication and released from a psychiatric institution into the care of his brother, Ariki (Wayne Hapi), Genesis is granted a new lease on life when he’s invited to help out a speed-chess team comprised of local teens from similarly desperate origins. It takes him only an introduction to this lovable band of misfits for him to commit entirely to their cause, with greater vigour than any could have reasonably anticipated.
Prematurely promising to land them a trophy at an upcoming tournament in the big city of Auckland, Genesis’ devotion spurs on the kids and gives them solace from their troubled lives. But his nephew, Manu (James Rolleston, of Boy fame), initially proves impervious to Genesis’ gusto, instead preparing for initiation into his father’s violent gang.
As often happens in these kinds of sports-mentor movies, Genesis’ mission proves to be greater than merely teaching kids the fundamentals of the game, extending to the very literal act of saving their lives. Yet Robertson – who also scripted the flick – keeps our expectations in check by not making promises for the characters that reality can’t deliver, nor does he make the climactic chess matches unbelievably larger than life. Rather, the climax is adorably intimate. A wrenching performance by Curtis – as the not-so-saintly savant – helps to remind that the biggest struggle occurring on screen is actually going on inside of him, and not on the chess board. It’s fitting casting to have one local legend playing another, though no one could argue against Curtis’ talents on display here.
Small in scope but significant in stature, Robertson delivers in The Dark Horse a sensitive tale with a crowd-pleasing punch, even as it declines to shy away from the bleakness of its characters’ lives.
The Dark Horse arrives in Australian cinemas November 20, 2014. It plays the Perth Festival from November 25.
