Scrabylon (2003)
Scrabylon is an award-winning, critically-acclaimed documentary on the cut throat world of tournament SCRABBLE®.
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Touches You
Memorable, crazy movie
It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.
All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
I liked this trip into the eccentric, nearly all-male world of champion Scrabble players.Here is a gaggle of sometimes self-described "lazy" people who may be gamesters and gamblers but sometimes also hold down real jobs at places like the Chicago Options Exchange. We learn that Scrabble is less a word game than a mathematical, visual-spatial one, and that the record score in a championship match stands at 770.Here you'll find a list of words beginning with a "q" that can be spelled without a "u", tidbits about the history of a game that garnered rejection slips from early manufacturers, and depictions of foreigners from places like Thailand who compete without necessarily being able to use English conversationally.The game is described as being much more complicated than poker, where a player may choose between three moves; in Scrabble, there can be 500 choices.Since the movie was made in 2003, it makes no reference to on-line playing. In whatever mode they participate, those who showed up to view a screening at the New York Public Library were divided about 50-50 men and women. The film pointed out that many of the top competitors are male. One of the few leading female players speculated that women may be afraid of winning. I challenge that!
If your a word game addict such as myself, then "Scrabylon" is an interesting view into the competitive world of Scrabble players and tournaments.It mostly consists of interviews with the top rated players in the nation....and their thoughts and strategies on the game.It also gives a nice look into the tournament scene, and provides a little background on the history of the game.Not a whole lot here to make a movie about - but it is a nice look at an interesting subculture Recommended for word freaks only!!