I feel misled. This was much less about speed cubing and much more a profile of autistic-prodigy Max Park and his speed cubing idol/rival Feliks Zemdeg. This would fit better on Lifetime or Hallmark given that focus. I learned nothing else of speed cubing, its culture, history, or other players. Again, a profile of Max. Saving grace: it's only 35+ mins.
The Speed Cubers
2020
Action / Documentary / Sport
The Speed Cubers
2020
Action / Documentary / Sport
Plot summary
Speed Cubing, which is the competitive sport of solving a Rubik's Cube in mere seconds, has grown into a worldwide phenomenon in recent years. For nearly a decade in the sport, Feliks Zemdegs from Australia, has reigned unchallenged as the king of cubers, the greatest of all time. That is, until now. The cubing world was stunned when an unknown challenger named Max Park from California took home the Gold medal in 2017 and emerged onto the global stage. Since then, Max's rise to the top has been swift and steady, save for one obstacle in his way: Feliks. The two have been trading wins and world records steadily, neither one able to truly dominate while the other still competes. But rather than developing into a bitter rivalry, Feliks and Max have instead grown their competitive relationship into a tender yet complicated friendship. Max is highly autistic and his family has been using speed cubing as a means of therapy for his nascent social skills and emotional development. They would have never guessed that Max's biggest rival in speed cubing would become his biggest ally in his struggles with autism. Our story finds Max and Feliks on the threshold of another World Championship, both driven to win but both rooting for each other's success. Between the two friends, though, there can only be one champion. Who will it be? But perhaps more importantly, will their friendship survive the answer?
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Top cast
Tech specs
720p.WEB 1080p.WEBMovie Reviews
Better titled as "Max Park: Speed Cuber"
What about the other cubers?
I do not want to sound callous, but I was expecting to learn a little more about cubers in general and and a little more about the history of this new craze.
But, most of the documentary is focused on an autistic cuber. Although there is an interest in showing this kid and his struggle to fit in normal life, after a while I had the impression I was watching a documentary about autism only.
I learned almost nothing about Rubik's cube, cubers and their competitions.
Half way through it I was paying no attention to it anymore.
A moving story about an unusual hobby
Full disclosure: I am a competitive speedcuber, and I have gone to the WCA world championships 2019 and experienced a lot of the story conveyed in the documentary first hand. This likely made the documentary more emotional to me than it would be for the average person, but I still think this is totally worth a watch even if you're not acquainted with our world, and here's why:
I think this documentary is a wonderful first contact with the weird world of speedcubing and its community. It conveys the story of undoubtedly the two most important speedcubers of the 21st century in a heartwarming tale about sportsmanship, overcoming disability and dealing with failure.
What makes this documentary so special is how much they care about this community and this story. Chris Olson (director of photography) is a former world record holder and Sue Kim (director and producer) is the mother of Asher Kim Magierek, a highly ranked speedcuber. I think this connection with the subject really shows through their film making.