A child prodigy, a self-taught chess grandmaster, and the troubled son of a single mother, he resists comprehension even as he invites judgment. The problem of Bobby Fischer remains unsolved by the end of Bobby Fischer Against the World. Liz Garbus’ documentary takes on a subject so convoluted, so difficult and elusive, that he resists the very process of documentation. Premiering on 6 June, it’s this first film in HBO‘s Summer Documentary Series presents the many contradictions Fischer embodied, his shyness and his arrogance, for instance, the movie also offers a series of interviewees with ideas about him, friends and colleagues, experts and historians. Fischer looms for them as he does for the rest of us, sometimes illegible, sometimes impressive, always striking.
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