Fresh
Brooklyn Castle does a superb job of celebrating the triumph while reinforcing the relentless vigilance it requires from everyone involved.
David Hinckley, New York Daily News
Brooklyn Castle
Imagine a school where the cool kids are the chess team. Welcome to I.S. 318
2012 · 1h 41m · PG
Documentary
Directed by
Katie Dellamaggiore
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Brooklyn Castle
Overview
Brooklyn Castle is a documentary about I.S. 318 – an inner-city school where more than 65 percent of students are from homes with incomes below the federal poverty level – that also happens to have the best, most winning junior high school chess team in the country. (If Albert Einstein, who was rated 1800, were to join the team, he’d only rank fifth best.) Chess has transformed the school from one cited in 2003 as a “school in need of improvement” to one of New York City’s best. But a series of recession-driven public school budget cuts now threaten to undermine those hard-won successes.
Director and cast
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
96%
Tomatometer
Fresh
Brooklyn Castle is inspiring stuff that grabs you by the throat and will leave you cheering - quietly of course. No shouting in a chess match.
Linda Barnard, Toronto Star
Fresh
There's a general spirit of triumph and perseverance to "Brooklyn Castle" that's inevitably uplifting.
Tom Long, Detroit News
Fresh
"Brooklyn Castle" easily checkmates your inner cynic.
Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle
Fresh
Katie Dellamaggiore's lively and affecting documentary introduces us to a cast of characters that's very winning (in both senses of the word).
Mark Feeney, Boston Globe
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