MASTER OF THE GAME review

Coming off of seeing David Goyer’s wonderful directorial debut, ZIGZAG, I decided to stick around the Paramount Theatre for the next film called MASTER OF THE GAME. I liked the little blurb about the film that I saw in the festival program. It said that movie was about an Jewish escapee from a concentration camp in Nazi Germany towards the end of World War 2, who ends up escaping to a cabin, only to find himself in the hands of 4 Nazis that are holed up in that same cabin.

It wasn’t much of a description, but I figured I’d check it out. It didn’t have any actors that I recognized. Right before the film started though, I learned that the film had been shot 100% here in Austin at the Austin Studios and in the surrounding area. That it was cast with almost all local talent as well as being crewed up locally. This isn’t the sort of thing that usually builds confidence in a movie though. I love the Austin film scene, wish for the best from it, but outside of a select few directors… I’m usually not bowled over by the results. I wanted to like the film, hoped that the hat trick would work.

As the film began the most annoying thing in the world was going on. Ok.. picture a group of concentration camp prisoners in the back of a dank dark transport truck being taken to Auschwitz… it is raining… miserable, depressing… and as each name of the credits appeared on screen, the locals cheered and hooted and hollered.. celebrating the names of their friends on screen, thus destroying all atmosphere and emotion that the movie was setting up. This applause, screams and whistling was so loud that I couldn’t even hear some of the initial dialogue.

Basically the audience ‘support’ of the film completely hindered the entire beginning of the feature, making everything hard to get into. This is why it is so important to have a cast and crew screening prior to a festival screening. As a result getting into this film was hard. In fact the first thirty minutes or so I just couldn’t get into the film. However, as soon as the ‘game’ begins the movie took off for me.

You have to suspend a great deal of disbelief to buy that the game would ever get started. In spilling out the initial rules of the game, this prisoner known only by his number… is clinging desperately to life through words. Prisoner 3264 is played by Uygar Aktan, who also wrote the screenplay for the film, and his part is the real show in this film. He’s an American G.I. captured, who also happened to be a Jew. He is unarmed, being tortured for the amusement of these Nazis. In the midst of this, he suggests that they play a game. Intrigued, the Commander, played by Garry Peters, scoffs at the idea of a game, when 3264 says that it is actually more of a challenge. He tells them that by playing this game they will all agree that he is in fact their superior and that they will admit it themselves. Now I bought this moment. I bought it based upon the Nazis sincere belief that it was impossible to ever believe that a Jew could be their superior. And in this film, the Nazis do question the rules of the game. 3264 assures them that he will not order them to harm one another or do anything that would allow him to escape. That the entire time, they would have their weapons, but that only he can end the game. They then ask him if this game will go on for an eternity, because that’s how long it would take to convince them. He answers that he doesn’t think it will take very long at all.

The gauntlet has been tossed. Secure in their own position, bored by being trapped by the storm outside, the Commander agrees to play the game. What follows is an incredibly fun taut mind-fuck of a movie. From this point forward I just had a blast with this. Sure the Nazi accents might not be the best, substituting every ‘w’ with a ‘v’ was a bit HOGAN’S HERO-esque, but ya know… That was fine. Because the writing here was so solid and so much fun that I forgave all the problems of low-budget filmmaking. However, Uygar Aktan’s situation that he constructed in this script was, for me, completely involving.

It also helps that Uygar Aktan was completely eating up with relish every scene he had. He wrote this character to be his dream part and he nails it. With each new step of his plan falls into place, you can see a growing confidence. You can begin to see the Nazis with their guns become impotent weak men, powerless before their obvious superior. I loved this role-reversal plotline. The tension of finishing the game before the storm closed… before reinforcements came for the Nazis… before one of them just pulled the trigger and ended his brilliantly constructed game.

The film was shot on that new Sony 24 fp High Def camera… the thing Lucas shot Episode 2 on. That Rodriguez has shot SPY KIDS 2 and ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO on… That New Line shot JASON X on… and ya know what? I’ve seen SESSION 9 and JASON X and both of them looked like film or better… Here, in this film… I felt it looked like video. Now it could be that the Panasonic Digital Projection just wasn’t what it could have been. Or it could be that the DP lit the film a bit like video. When all the gas lamps are off and they are supposed to all be lit by the fireplace alone… there is no flicker… no softness of light, like comes from a fireplace… Instead it has a real soap opera hard light look, which I didn’t care for. And the worst was the blue gel backlight on Garry Peters’ white hair during a lightning blast. Of course this is experience with the camera, with the new tools, limitations of the budget… frankly low-budget filmmaking.

Of the other principal actors in the film, besides Uygar Aktan, the one that shines most is David Stokey as the Nazi with the least rank… Keppler. He follows orders blindly, knowing that only through following orders will the ultimate strength of unity be defined and triumphant. The result is quite wonderful.

This is not a perfect film by any means, but it was a wonderful little film. It got me. If for no other reason, watching Aktan chewing up his dialogue, just giving it his all… That was spectacular.

The film is better than most of what has been released by the big budget studios this year thus far, but the cheapness certainly showed. With a full budget, I think Uygar and director Jeff Stolhand could really make a great film. This is definitely a good one with flaws, but it is actually much more ambitious than most Indie flicks, and btw… it’d be a great stage play to produce.