A young man and chess genius tries to woo the girl of his dreams using chess moves and a little magic in the short film Zugzwang. Review right here.
For those of you who don’t know, Zugzwang is a German word which means an obligation to move. Don’t worry, I didn’t know this before watching this great little short film either. It is used in Chess when you have to make a move, even though the best thing for you would be to not make a move at all.
Pedro is an intelligent teenager who is a wiz at chess and maths and when Ariadna, the girl of his dreams, comes for help with her homework, Pedro tries to use the same principles from chess in order to woo her.
It also comes in handy having a chess timer that can stop time, much like the pause button used on the remote control in the Adam Sandler comedy Click. Pedro uses the timer to assess Ariadna’s moves in order to make the best possible next move.
Zugzwang is a great little short by director Yolanda Centeno. The film is beautifully shot and the production looks like it may have cost a lot of money to produce. It probably wasn’t but the crew should be applauded for making it look so. Everything about Zugzwang screams professional. The music, the sound, the imagery and even the acting by the young performers are all top notch and the writing is intelligent and witty.
If I had to pick a gripe with this (and this is scraping the barrel) I wish it would have lasted a little longer. I wanted to see what happened next for Pedro, Ariadna and her jerk of a boyfriend.
All in all, Zugzwang is a beautiful looking and well delivered short film that should do well at festivals. I shall be keeping a close eye out for the name Yolanda Centeno, it could very well be a big name in future movie making.
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