Please Note: “Critical Thinking” was originally scheduled to premiere at the 2020 SXSW Film Festival. With the express consent of the representatives of the filmmakers, we present the review of the film here.
Trying to win over reluctant students to the game of chess, high school teacher Mario Martinez tells them that there is no more level playing field than a chessboard – “Chess is the great equalizer!” His students at Miami Jackson believe the only way out of their barrio is through crime or football, but Mr. Martinez (John Leguizamo) shows them another way – not through chess success per se, but through the skills it teaches, the ability to act with purpose and strategy, or as the title puts it, “Critical Thinking.”
The feature directing debut of veteran actor John Leguizamo, “Critical Thinking” tells the true story of Miami Jackson’s 1998 chess team, combining the story of an inspiring teacher with the fun of an underdog sports tale. While the overall trajectory can feel familiar, Leguizamo sets the film apart with a sharp sense of authenticity, in the Miami setting, in the honesty surrounding the issues facing the kids, and in giving voice to the team members’ real relationships and personalities.
After making a name for himself with self-consciously big performances both on stage in one-person shows and onscreen with roles in the flamboyantly theatrical fare of Baz Luhrmann, it’s a pleasant surprise that while Leguizamo does anchor the film with his performance, his work both acting and directing is restrained and group-oriented – like a good teacher, he knows when to cede the spotlight and empower his young co-stars. Hints of his difficult past do emerge, but only in reactive moments of empathy with his students, the real subjects. The team’s leader is Sedrick (Corwin Tuggles), for whom chess is the only connection left with his angry, grieving father (Michael K. Williams). Ito Paniagua (Jorge Lendenburg) wants to stay on the team, but is financially pressured into drug dealing and must fight to keep his identity. Gil Luna (Will Hochman) and Rodelay Medina (Angel Curiel) balance out the group with charm and levity. However, the team’s best player Marcel (Jeffry Batista) is a newcomer to the school, a recent Cuban émigré they meet in the park who wows them all with the savant ability to win four games at once from memory.
Together the team fights through a variety of hurdles, from a lack of school and family support, race and class-based condescension, to the inherent difficulty of a forging a team from a diverse, contentious group (although it is a very masculine group; a climactic scene takes place at a urinal). In a world where it remains shockingly controversial for “Star Wars” to show people of different races cooperating in space, it’s healthy to see a true example of a diverse team – where the team is stronger for its differences, but it takes a process of learning and trust to reach that point.
The strength of “Critical Thinking” is that it takes on these real-world issues in a refreshingly matter-of-fact manner, stemming from the fact that everything is seen through the perspective of the teens. The unusually charismatic group of young actors Leguizamo assembled channel the fun and frustration of high school, not denying the real challenge a teacher faces in breaking through, yet showing the lasting rewards of doing so. While the students’ side plots are less rewarding than the main story, overall the film does a good job allowing the team to assemble and define its dynamics in the first half, allowing the drama of the competitions to shape the narrative’s second half. “Critical Thinking” shows that Leguizamo makes a good teacher on screen and behind the camera –he’s telling a story that is truly inspiring and educational, but also revealing its relevance and keeping it fun. [A-]