Chess pops up in a surprising number of feature films. Just look at all the documentaries and dramas about the outrageously gifted Bobby Fischer. Shogi, or Japanese chess, is a different and smaller story, though ¡°Satoshi: A Move for Tomorrow,¡± a 2016 film about prodigy Satoshi Murayama, garnered awards for its star, Kenichi Matsuyama.
¡°Shottan, The Miracle¡± is another shogi biopic, this time about Shoji ¡°Shottan¡± Segawa (Ryuhei Matsuda), a struggler who finally got his chance to turn pro at the age of 35. By contrast, shogi¡¯s reigning genius, Sota Fujii, was 14 when he joined the professional ranks last year.
Directed by Toshiaki Toyoda, who trained to be a professional shogi player himself as a boy, ¡°Shottan, The Miracle¡± is a workman-like examination of Segawa¡¯s career, minus the surrealism and violence of Toyoda¡¯s earlier work. (See his 1998 debut, ¡°Pornostar,¡± for a particularly vivid example).
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