This morning I had the extraordinary good fortune to meet Cliff Curtis, the Maori actor who plays Genesis Potini in "Dark Horse", a film that opens on Dec. 11th in NYC.
I reviewed the film in conjunction with two other films about chess for CounterPunch a while back (http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/09/25/chess-as-metaphor/). In real life Potini trained Maori children to compete in chess tournaments. Despite suffering from bipolar disorder, he made a major contribution to Maori society. Curtis was not the typical actor. He had a tremendous grasp of the importance of the film as both art and message. He has been in many films over the years, including some that address Maori identity such as "Once Were Warriors" and "Whale Rider" that I reviewed 11 years ago. http://www.columbia.edu/~lnp3/mydocs/culture/WhaleRider.htm I will be posting a reminder about "Dark Horse" when it is about to open. It is my pick for best narrative film of 2015. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
