For me, the story of The Music of Chance began back in 2001, when I first saw it on television. The film was broadcast on some central channel, but for some reason in very poor quality. However, the dark stripes on the screen and the bad sound did not prevent me from watching the film in one breath - the plot seemed to me extremely interesting and original.
Jim Nash, trying to escape his past, buys a red BMW and heads to New York to start a new life. The classical music that Jim listens to during the trip, and the picturesque American landscapes outside the window allow him to relax a little and forget about failure for a while. But fate, as is known, is very insidious, and soon the lyrical mood is replaced by an anxious curiosity - Jim sees a bloodied man walking along the side of the road. Good-natured and peaceful Nash stops and lets a stranger into his car. Jim's new friend is Italian Jack Pozzi, who makes a living playing poker. After another game, the lucky Pozzie as always filled his pockets with money, but was beaten and robbed.
All the way, Pozzy methodically persuades Nash to take part in a new game that promises to be dangerous, but successful. Jack is one hundred percent confident of winning. And Nash agrees. After some time in New York, new friends go to a game in the estate of two multimillionaires. Strange rich people warmly welcome guests in their luxurious mansion, feed them and show them a huge layout of the fabulous city they dream of building on their territory. After that, the game begins. At first everything goes smoothly - Jack wins. But in the middle of the game, Nash leaves to look again at the layout of the future city. Surprisingly looking at the design of the layout, Jim decides to take away two figurines. It is from this moment that the real adventure begins.
Returning to the players, he learns that luck this time unmercifully betrays Jack - he begins to lose. In the process of the game, the guys slowly part not only with their money, but also with the car. In fact, they are still in debt. And then the rich make an unexpected decision - to somehow pay off their debts, Nash and Pozzy will have to build a tall fence of ten thousand stone blocks left after the destruction of an ancient Irish castle. The freedom-loving Italian begins to fiercely resist this decision, but Jim tells him that they have no other option and that these people will not let them out of their territory alive. The boys are forced to sign a contract, according to which they will have to work for fifty days for ten hours a day. “Slaves” are handed over to an elderly overseer Calvin, who settles them in a modest but very comfortable house.
Easy life is replaced by gray workdays. Work does not stop even in the rain. Handling stones is not easy, but in their spare time friends live quite freely - they are well fed, drunk with expensive alcoholic beverages, delivered to a prostitute. But despite the good conditions, Jack still does not want to work off the debt. At night, the guys dig a hole under the fence, hug goodbye, and Jack is out. He calls Jim with him, but he says he can't leave without finishing the stone structure. Nash continues to build alone. And one morning, as he walks out of his cabin, Jim sees a terrifying picture of the corpse of his former partner lying on the grass. Jack was punished for his escape. . .
After this strange death, Jim begins to have nightmares. Negative emotions strangle him, and eventually he decides to avenge the death of a friend, risking his own life. After the construction is completed, the overseer and his son invite Jim to celebrate the successful completion of the work at the bar. After drinking a beer and playing pool, Jack gets back behind the wheel of his BMW to take the old man and his son back to the estate. He deliberately accelerates the car to the limit, and on a steep turn it turns over and falls into a ditch. Only Jim Nash survives a car accident. A little mutilated, he walks down the road in an unknown direction. A man passing by picks him up at the same spot where he first saw Jack.
The Music of Chance was filmed in 1993 based on the novel of the same name by Paul Oster. The main roles in this adventure drama were performed by brilliant, but not very famous actors - Mandy Patinkin and James Spader. In my opinion, this is one of the best duets in the history of American cinema. Mandy is always elite, sophisticated and talented, and James in the exclusive role of a sneaky Italian looks very eccentric. Supporting roles were performed by no less talented actors, of which, by the way, not so much. The film is quite closed and somewhat illogical, but these qualities give it a special charm. The masterpiece was shot near New York, but when viewed, it seems that the action takes place somewhere in southern England or northern France. The European flavor persists throughout the film, and this is not surprising, given that the director and screenwriter of this film is Philip Haas, the cameramen are Bernard Zitzermann and Jean de Segonzac, the producer is Frederic Zollo, and the artist is Hugo Lucik-Wichowski.
In Russia, "The Music of Chance" was released on December 7, 1999 on videotapes and was called "Double Bet". Of course, this is not a translation, but the title still affects the content. In general, it should be noted that the film has eight titles: The Music of Chance, La Musica del Azar, Double Stake, Music of Destiny, Music by Chance, Music of Gambling, Music of Luck and Music of Chance. The last name is the closest to the truth.
P.S. One of the most interesting things about the film is that it’s nowhere to be found. It practically does not exist in our country. It's not in stores or online. But I was lucky - in December 2008, I somehow miraculously managed to download The Music of Chance from a site that was subsequently shut down. The cherished disc with the cherished film is stored in my desk along with other film masterpieces and takes honorable first place among them.
