''The Dark Horse'' is a 2014 New Zealand
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
written and directed by
James Napier Robertson
James William Napier Robertson (born 24 March 1982) is a New Zealand writer, film director, actor and producer, who wrote and directed 2009 film ''I'm Not Harry Jenson'', and 2014 film ''The Dark Horse'', for which he won Best Director, Best Sc ...
and starring
Cliff Curtis
Clifford Vivian Devon Curtis (born 27 July 1968) is a New Zealand actor. His film credits include ''Once Were Warriors'' (1994), ''Three Kings'' (1999), ''Training Day'' (2001), ''Whale Rider'' (2002), ''Collateral Damage'' (2002), ''Sunshine'' ...
and
James Rolleston
James Rolleston (born 8 June 1997) is a New Zealand actor known for the films ''Boy'' and '' The Dark Horse''. The latter was released in October 2014 and had its world premiere at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival on 4 September.
Fil ...
. It won
Best Picture
This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Best Score at the
2014 New Zealand Film Awards,
Best Film
This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
at the 2015 Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), 2015 San Francisco International Film Festival (SFIFF) and 2015 Rotterdam International Film Festival (IFFR), was ''New York Times'' Critics' Pick and ''Time'' Magazine Critics' Pick, and was labeled by leading New Zealand critics as "One of the greatest New Zealand films ever made".
It premiered at the
2014 Toronto International Film Festival
The 39th annual Toronto International Film Festival, the 39th event in the Toronto International Film Festival series, was held in Canada from 4–14 September 2014. David Dobkin's film '' The Judge'', starring Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duv ...
(
TIFF
Tag Image File Format, abbreviated TIFF or TIF, is an image file format for storing raster graphics images, popular among graphic artists, the publishing industry, and photographers. TIFF is widely supported by scanning, faxing, word processin ...
), and was created by production company Four Knights Film. The film was released theatrically in the U.S. by
Broad Green Pictures
Broad Green Pictures was a production and financing company. It was founded in 2014 by CEO Gabriel Hammond and Chief Creative Officer, Daniel Hammond.
Management
On February 25, 2015, Broad Green Pictures acquired a 45% stake in David Garrett ...
on 1 April 2016.
Plot
The Dark Horse is based on the real-life story of
Genesis Potini
Genesis Wayne Potini (5 September 1963 – 15 August 2011) was a New Zealand speed chess player.
Life and work
Potini was a man of Māori descent. He was known for his skills as a speed (1 min.) chess player. Together with two friends, he f ...
, a brilliant New Zealand chess player who suffered from severe bipolar disorder. The film begins with him walking down a street in the rain, before walking into an antique store and playing a chess game with himself. He has flashbacks of being taught chess by his older brother, and eventually is taken away by police officers to a hospital because of his mental state. He is released into the care of his brother Ariki, who allows him to sleep in his son's room. Upon hearing about a chess club run by his old chess buddy Noble Keelan, he goes around to his house early in the morning to ask to join. He is told he can only do so if he promises to not "rock the boat." Genesis meets the Eastern Knights Chess club in a shed where he learns that they only have one chess board, and the kids are not particularly motivated. He introduces himself and discloses that he wants to lead them to the Junior National Championships in
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
, something Noble is initially frustrated with Genesis about. Mana, Ariki's son, followed him to the club, and it is revealed that he will be
patched
Patched (Ptc) is a conserved 12-pass transmembrane protein receptor that plays an obligate negative regulatory role in the Hedgehog signaling pathway in insects and vertebrates. Patched is an essential gene in embryogenesis for proper segm ...
into his father's Gang, the Vagrants, on his birthday. He is given over to Mutt to harden him up. Ariki, believing that Genesis could interfere with this process asks him to leave. Genesis begins sleeping on the monument on
Kaiti Hill
Titirangi is a hill in Gisborne city, New Zealand. It is also known as Kaiti Hill, but this refers to the first ridge overlooking Poverty Bay and Gisborne. The hill is an ancestral site of the Ngāti Oneone hapū (sub-tribe) in Gisborne. It is at ...
, and leading meetings at the Chess club, now held at the
marae
A ' (in New Zealand Māori, Cook Islands Māori, Tahitian), ' (in Tongan), ' (in Marquesan) or ' (in Samoan) is a communal or sacred place that serves religious and social purposes in Polynesian societies. In all these languages, the term a ...
with new chess sets. Mana, though initially hostile towards Genesis begins to see him more regularly, and joins the chess club. Mana reveals that he has been abused and urinated on by Mutt as part of his gang initiation. He also has a V tattooed on his face.
The mother of one of the members of Eastern Knights finds out that Genesis is homeless, and refuses to let her son participate, sending him into another mental breakdown. Sandy allows him to sleep at a friends house, and they all prepare to go to Auckland for the championship. Mana realizes he cannot come as it is on the day that he will be patched, and leaves angrily. Genesis attempts to reason with Ariki, but he refuses to let Mana leave. On the day they leave for Auckland, Genesis stops at the monument to pick up a distraught Mana, and says that Ariki has allowed him to come. They go to Auckland, and all the members of Eastern Knights lose their games apart from Michael and Mana. That night, Mana reveals that he knows Genesis lied about him having permission to come, but that Mana knows his father is dying. He ends up losing his match the next day, but Michael goes on to compete in the final. Genesis repeatedly calls out during the final, and has to be sent outside, but Michael ends up winning the final. Ariki arrives shortly after, and punches Genesis before he yells at Mana to get in the car. The Eastern Knights travel back to Gisborne, and Genesis is visibly upset. He goes over to his brother's to find his nephew, who is unconscious with a black eye. It is revealed that he has just been patched, and Mutt begins beating Genesis, but is stopped by Ariki. Genesis removes Mana's jacket, and they walk out together, being followed and verbally abused by Mutt. Other members of the Gang begin beating Mutt, and Genesis and Mana leave. The closing montage reveals that the Eastern Knights chess club is still being run, and that Genesis passed away in 2011.
Cast
*
Cliff Curtis
Clifford Vivian Devon Curtis (born 27 July 1968) is a New Zealand actor. His film credits include ''Once Were Warriors'' (1994), ''Three Kings'' (1999), ''Training Day'' (2001), ''Whale Rider'' (2002), ''Collateral Damage'' (2002), ''Sunshine'' ...
as
Genesis
Genesis may refer to:
Bible
* Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind
* Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...
*
James Rolleston
James Rolleston (born 8 June 1997) is a New Zealand actor known for the films ''Boy'' and '' The Dark Horse''. The latter was released in October 2014 and had its world premiere at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival on 4 September.
Fil ...
as Mana
* Wayne Hapi as Ariki
*
Kirk Torrance
Kirk Torrance is an actor and playwright from New Zealand, best known for his role as Wayne Judd in '' Outrageous Fortune''. He is also a former Commonwealth Games swimmer.
Career
His debut play ''Strata'' (2003) won Best New Playwright at the ...
as Noble
*
Miriama McDowell
Miriama McDowell is a New Zealand actor, director and playwright. She is a graduate of Toi Whakaari.
McDowell has a long association with Massive Theatre Company in Auckland, and has both acted and directed for the Pop-up Globe, including direc ...
as Sandy
* Baz Te Hira as Mutt
* Xavier Horan as Jedi
*
James Napier Robertson
James William Napier Robertson (born 24 March 1982) is a New Zealand writer, film director, actor and producer, who wrote and directed 2009 film ''I'm Not Harry Jenson'', and 2014 film ''The Dark Horse'', for which he won Best Director, Best Sc ...
as Dave
Real-life basis
The character Curtis plays, Genesis, is inspired by real-life
Gisborne speed chess
Fast chess, also known as Speed chess, is a type of chess in which each player is given less time to consider their moves than normal tournament time controls allow. Fast chess is subdivided, by decreasing time controls, into rapid chess, blitz ...
player and coach
Genesis Potini
Genesis Wayne Potini (5 September 1963 – 15 August 2011) was a New Zealand speed chess player.
Life and work
Potini was a man of Māori descent. He was known for his skills as a speed (1 min.) chess player. Together with two friends, he f ...
, who died in 2011. By teaching local youth to play chess, he hoped to give them a positive focus in life and dissuade them from getting involved in gangs and crime. Potini struggled with
bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that last from days to weeks each. If the elevated mood is severe or associated with ...
, requiring frequent hospital stays.
Potini had been the subject of a well received 2003 documentary film, ''Dark Horse''. At the request of director
James Napier Robertson
James William Napier Robertson (born 24 March 1982) is a New Zealand writer, film director, actor and producer, who wrote and directed 2009 film ''I'm Not Harry Jenson'', and 2014 film ''The Dark Horse'', for which he won Best Director, Best Sc ...
, Curtis gained close to 27 kg (60 pounds) in weight and stayed in character for the entirety of the shoot to play Genesis. Napier Robertson also had Curtis study chess with some of Potini's erstwhile friends, including
FIDE Master
FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating an ...
Ewen Green.
Release
Box office
''The Dark Horse'' grossed $67,533 in the United States and Canada and $1.8 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $1.9 million,
against a production budget of $2.1 million.
Critical reception
On
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has an approval rating of 97%, based on 62 reviews, with an average rating of 7.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Led by an outstanding performance from Cliff Curtis, ''The Dark Horse'' tackles complex themes with a richly layered, unpredictable, and deeply affecting story." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the film holds a rating of 77 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Upon its premiere as the Opening Night film of the New Zealand International Film Festival on 17 July 2014,
''The Dark Horse'' was declared by the ''RNZ National Review'' "One of the greatest New Zealand films ever made".
The film went on to become a New Zealand box office hit, grossing $2 million and receiving unanimously strong reviews. The ''New Zealand Herald'' rated it 5 stars, calling it "a great, deeply affecting movie", praising the "brave, assured and layered directing" and the "towering performance of Cliff Curtis".
It was released theatrically in Australia on 20 November 2014. ''The Australian'' called it "outstanding ... a Kiwi – and largely Maori – work of the highest artistic excellence"; the ''Sydney Morning Herald'' praised it as "possibly the best movie to come out of New Zealand since ''
Once Were Warriors
''Once Were Warriors'' is New Zealand author Alan Duff's bestselling first novel, published in 1990. It tells the story of an urban Māori family, the Hekes, and portrays the reality of domestic violence in New Zealand. It was the basis of a 199 ...
'' in 1994". It premiered internationally at the
2014 Toronto International Film Festival
The 39th annual Toronto International Film Festival, the 39th event in the Toronto International Film Festival series, was held in Canada from 4–14 September 2014. David Dobkin's film '' The Judge'', starring Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duv ...
. ''Variety'' calling it "exceptional...the most deserving cinematic export to emerge from New Zealand in years", ''The Hollywood Reporter'' announcing it "certain to attract awards attention", and ''Indiewire'' grading it an 'A', praising it as "moving and incredibly humanistic."
Awards and nominations
References
External links
*
*
* (rating 4/5)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dark Horse
2010s New Zealand films
2014 films
2014 drama films
New Zealand drama films
Films about bipolar disorder
Films about chess
Drama films based on actual events
Films set in New Zealand
Films shot in New Zealand
Broad Green Pictures films
2010s gang films
Biographical films about sportspeople
Cultural depictions of New Zealand men
Cultural depictions of chess players
2010s English-language films
Films directed by James Napier Robertson