"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.

Yesterday, I hired 'AI' on video, watched it and thought 'a typical over-hyped Hollywood movie' - overlong with some excellent effects and rather disjointed good and bad phases. Later that evening I started watching 'The Music of Chance' on TV; which I had noticed was only given moderate status in the Radio Times reviews. The longer I watched it, the more hooked I became on a really great movie, that was everything AI wasn't. The good, original story was brilliantly translated to film by Philip Haas and the five principal actors were all superb in their roles. The movie just got better and better until the really neat ending closed in the perfect way for me. What a surprising day's film viewing that turned out to be.

Paul Auster writes marvelous contemporary fiction, and this is a wonderful film adaptation of perhaps his finest work.

THE MUSIC OF CHANCE revolves around two very different protagonists. Jim Nash (Mandy Patinkin) is an ex-fireman, driving across America, and searching for meaning to his life. Jack Pozzi (James Spader) is a professional poker player, out of money, out of luck, and given a ride to New York by Nash. It emerges Jack has a game scheduled with two eccentric millionaires (Joel Grey and Charles Durning),so Jim puts up the capital with the last of his own money. But the poker game doesn't go quite according to plan...

Some people have described this film as "pretentious" - pretending to what exactly? Jack Pozzi and Jim Nash are two unusually clearly defined characters - one shallow, over-confident, tetchy; the other calm, reasonable, tolerant. Their eventual predicament is also disarmingly simple. That air of mystery to the film does not spring from narrative or character but from the viewer's own philosophies towards life. Does one choose one's own path or is it chosen for you? Chance or fate? Freedom or incarceration? Meaning or, in Nash's words, "just bullshit". So in fact even if you think the events onscreen have no deeper meaning, well then that *is* the meaning. For you anyway.

The acting is universally excellent, with Grey, Durning, M Emmet Walsh, and Chris Penn illuminating supporting roles. But Patinkin and Spader dominate the film, with two absolutely captivating performances. Philip Haas's direction is suitably under-stated, and there is also excellent use of music, from jazz to classical.

THE MUSIC OF CHANCE is an absorbing and intelligent piece of film-making. If only there were more films like it.