''The Dungeon Masters'' is a 2008 documentary film about the
role playing game
A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal a ...
''
Dungeons & Dragons
''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules ...
'' and its significance in the lives of three dungeon masters (self described as "
gamemaster
A gamemaster (GM; also known as game master, game manager, game moderator, referee, or storyteller) is a person who acts as an organizer, officiant for regarding rules, arbitrator, and moderator for a multiplayer role-playing game. They are m ...
s"): Scott Corum, Richard Meeks and Elizabeth Reesman. The film is director
Keven McAlester
Kevin () is the anglicized form of the Irish masculine given name (; mga, Caoimhghín ; sga, Cóemgein ; Latinized as ). It is composed of "dear; noble"; Old Irish and ("birth"; Old Irish ).
The variant ''Kevan'' is anglicized from , an ...
's second feature documentary (his first was ''
You're Gonna Miss Me
"You're Gonna Miss Me" is a song by the American psychedelic rock band the 13th Floor Elevators, written by Roky Erickson, and released as the group's debut single on Contact Records, on January 17, 1966. It was reissued nationally on Internati ...
''), and premiered at the 2008
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...
. It was an official selection of the
South by Southwest Film Festival
South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, T ...
and the
AFI Dallas Film Festival
AFI may refer to:
* ''Address-family identifier'', a 16 bit field of the Routing Information Protocol
* Ashton Fletcher Irwin, an Australian drummer
* AFI (band), an American rock band
** AFI (2004 album), ''AFI'' (2004 album), a retrospective a ...
. The original film score is by
Blonde Redhead
Blonde Redhead is an American alternative rock band composed of Kazu Makino (vocals, keys/rhythm guitar) and twin brothers Simone and Amedeo Pace (drums/keys and lead guitar/bass/keys/vocals, respectively) that formed in New York City in 1993. ...
. Cinematography is by
Lee Daniel
Lee Cavender Daniel (born January 23, 1962) is an American cinematographer. He was born in Dallas, Texas. His best known films are '' Boyhood'' and '' Dazed and Confused'', both directed by Richard Linklater. Daniel has worked on many of Linkla ...
Matt Manfredi
Matt Manfredi is an American screenwriter.
Early life and education
Manfredi is from Palos Verdes, California,Bug''. The film's producers are
Jeff Levy-Hinte
Jeff Levy-Hinte (a.k.a. Jeffrey Kusama-Hinte) is an American film producer. He serves as the President of Antidote International Films (also known as Antidote Films), Inc. based in New York City. He produced ''The Kids Are All Right (film), The K ...
, Brian Gerber and Kel Symons.
Synopsis
''The Dungeon Masters'' explores the lives of three devoted ''Dungeons & Dragons'' enthusiasts who find the harsh realities of life impeding on their rich worlds of fantasy. This commentary on the frail psyche of the American middle-class examines the subculture of
gamers
A gamer is a proactive hobbyist who plays interactive games, especially video games, tabletop role-playing games, and skill-based card games, and who plays for usually long periods of time. Some gamers are competitive, meaning they routinely ...
and role-playing games, specifically ''Dungeons & Dragons''.
Development
The movie was originally envisioned as a history of ''Dungeons & Dragons'', but shifted its focus to the lives of the players early on. The film was produced by
Antidote Films
Antidote Films, also known as Antidote International Films, Inc., is an independent film production company founded by producer Jeff Levy-Hinte based in the Hudson Square neighborhood of New York City. In 2008, Antidote completed several documen ...
.
Release
It was released on DVD in 2010 by MPI Media Group.
Reception
Rob Vaux of mania.com comments: "Even when their wounds come self-inflicted or the movie settles for surface impressions rather than more nuanced details, we remain firmly in the trio's corner. We pull madly for them to succeed and die a little bit when life hands them its inevitable failures. McAlister structures the documentary after classic fantasy novels, with rising challenges leading to moments of darkness and an eventual (if comparatively minor) triumph. It demonstrates how the game they love teaches lessons on life, and how life in turn feeds back into the game. They're not in opposition to each other, but act together: something few outsiders understand but which ''The Dungeon Masters''—despite some shortcomings–illustrates with thoughtfulness and empathy."
On
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 67% based on reviews from 6 critics.