Another subtle study in light and shade from
better-behind-the-camera Robert Redford. Based on the true story of a
Columbia professor, Charles Van Doren (Fiennes), who agreed to cheat
on America's biggest game show. When the contestant he beats
(Turturro) approaches a lawyer (Morrow) with evidence that the show's
producers are engineering the results, the clean New England light of
the Van Dorens' world is threaded through with corruption. Striking
for its attempt to ask serious moral questions without giving easy
answers, the film pivots on Fiennes' character, seen most clearly in
the wonderful scenes with his father (an incredible Scofield). No
award glory, but as Turturro demonstrates, sometimes the losers still
fill the screen.
