source: The Music of Chance

"The Music of Chance" is certainly an intriguing title. The acting is first rate. The story is very original. The music quite good. Yet, the film seems to leave one with a sense of emptiness. Generally, I put entertainment at the top of my list of things I look for in a movie experience. If you have to look for meaning from a film, chances are the last 90 minutes of your life have not been pleasant. Throughout "The Music of Chance", I anticipated some kind of payoff, something that would move the story forward, beyond the obvious. Unfortunately there was no payoff. In fact I felt cheated, being lead down a path to nowhere. - MERK

An excellent poker player and his random investor get to play a high stakes poker game against and eccentric/weird rich couple of old doods. The player gets jinxed by his backer and losses all there money and then some and have to pay off the debt by working in the doods back yard for a couple of months and not allowed to leave till they've repaid there debt. Things turn nasty and i wouldn't want to be in these guys shoes thats for sure. if your into offbeat slightly unnerving poker films then this is for you 8-) i love this film its a bit surreal, tense and unnerving and keeps you guessing 10/10

On the surface, this is a S-T-R-A-N-G-E movie that keeps you guessing. But NOW--try viewing it as a metaphor for the class struggle. It climbs right off the screen! This is definitely not a used plot with new sets and different faces. James Spader shows his versatility as an actor.

**** Some Spoilers ***** The Music of Chance is a dark, atmospheric and haunting parable of how in a split second decision one's fate can be changed dramatically.The cast in this film are wonderful.James Spader is cast completely out of type as Jack Pozzi an itinerant gambler who stumbles out of the woods to be picked up hitchhiking by Nashe played by Mandy Pantinkin. Jack tells Nashe about how he can win a big game of poker against a couple eccentric millionaires Flower and Stone played by Charles Durning and Joel Grey.Nashe agrees to back Jack with his own limited funds, so begins this cautionary tale.Also adding to the excellent cast is Emmet Walshe and Chris Penn.The acting in this film is superb by everyone especially Spader who gives Jack's character lot's of emotion.A wonderful translation of the Paul Auster novel which is very reminiscent of work by Samuel Becket and Franz Kaffka.

I just finished THE MUSIC OF CHANCE, and don't really have a clue what I just viewed is all about. I then read several reviews, and am forever thankful a forum like Imdb exists. Back in the "dark days" (pre-internet), you read a movie review from one or two critics, watched a film, and that's pretty much the only spin you had on a certain piece of cinema besides your own. Now you can get a multitude of takes on a movie, and it certainly helps that several reviewers are already familiar with the book or story a film is based on (because I'm usually not much into fiction literature). They're interpretations are always appreciated, and I don't ever want this site to cease to exist. With all that said and done, while filled with decent actors and an intriguing story, I still am clueless as to what THE MUSIC OF CHANCE is all about. You're on your own with this one people.

This movie could almost be classified as suspense... It leaves the viewer on the edge of their seat as they wait desperately for some sort of meaning. It meandered through pointlessness for over an hour before coming to a leisurely stop at mediocrity.

This is one of my favorite movies of all times. With all the mediocre DVDs being released, what are they waiting for to release "The Music of Chance"? This is an incredibly good story, acted out by superb actors. James Spader is hardly recognizable, Mandy Patkin understood his subtle role, but my favorite character is Calvin Murks (M. Emmett Walsh is the creepiest "ordinary villain" of all). Ever since I saw this movie, I cannot see a flat stone wall without feeling the anguish of Nashe and Pozzi . But this movie, like the book, needs to be seen many times to half understand its many different meanings, symbolisms and metaphors. Please release it in DVD (I lost my VSH copy), and please, Mr. Auster, write more stories, you are indeed the best.

Well, I don't share the enthusiasm others have expressed for the philosophical heavy breathing which underlies this film. I just found it boring, dull-witted and ultimately pointless. If I want existentialism, I'll re-read huis clos. This movie positively annoyed me perhaps because it was praised so highly by so many, including the infamous two thumbs up from you-know-who. I think this movie should be used at local correctional facilities as an alternative punishment in lieu of "the hole." Avoiding this film might have remarkable rehabilitative properties for captive audiences all over this great land.

"The Music of Chance" is about--well--the music of chance. Life is terribly, sometimes beautifully, unpredictable, yet man has ever sought to control the odds, or weight them in his favor. The penchant for doing this extends from the gambler to the stockbroker. We find varying elements of this desire in most of the world's religions. Pozzi, coming off a losing streak, believes he can regain his losses by playing two novices he beat previously, Flower and Stone, in a high-stakes poker game. They have, however, boned up on their game since last playing him, and he and Jim Nashe, who has staked him, are left with a Sisyphean task to work off their debt. Nashe, played expertly by Mandy Patamkin, may be the only "free man" of the major characters in this film. He can accept loss with grace and strength, which likely reflects his attitude toward life. Pozzi, Flower, Stone, and Murks are all prisoners of their particular "angle." "The City of the World," a board model in the Flower-Stone residence, embodies a world where nothing is left to chance, and the enslaved revel in their servitude. This is a rare film in that it raises philosophical questions, in much the same way that "The Rapture" raised theological ones. As such, it was unlikely to gain a large audience, in spite of some very good performances.