In chess, a knight’s tour is a sequence of moves in which the knight visits every square on the board exactly once. A Knight’s Tour is also writer/director Marvin Choi’s debut film, a post-apocalyptic drama about friendship, trust, paranoia and chess.
The world as we know it has ended. Civilization has been brought down by a plague, referred to as “The Outbreak”. In this J.D. (Darnel Powell) discovers an isolated cabin and breaks in looking for shelter and anything he can scavenge. Instead, he finds himself on the wrong end of a rifle wielded by Henry (Joseph Price) who suspects he’s scouting the cabin for a raider gang. J.D. soon finds himself shackled to a chain long enough to let him wander around the cabin. Which he does while Henry is gone. Among other things, he finds a chessboard with odd markings on it.
After explaining a knight’s tour to J.D. the two men play chess. Much to Henry’s surprise J.D. wins. The two men become friends and J.D. is let off his chain. However, disappears while the two are checking traps and returns later. Henry is wary and begins claiming he sees signs of intruders. As distrust builds, both men’s claims as to who and they are and their motivations get called into question.
Is either of them who they say they are? And in a situation such as this is there much difference between who we think we are and who we actually are? Choi has said that “The movie is implicitly driven by the interaction between two characters, one who is so isolated that he resolves his emotional conflicts with hallucinatory episodes and another who has lived his life built upon so many lies and slights of hand that he is no longer sure what his true motivations are anymore.”
A Knight’s Tour is a dialogue-driven two-character film. Despite its setting, it isn’t an action film or science fiction film really. So if you’re looking for another I Am Legend or even What Still Remains this might not be for you.
However, if you’re looking for a character study with a bit of a thriller edge to it A Knight’s Tour may do the job. It features a pair of solid performances and some insightful dialogue. Henry says he has been alone for over a decade. He wants company but can he trust this strange? And if he can, should he? Is Henry who he says? And did he come to be in the cabin honestly?
Currently available on streaming platforms, A Knight’s Tour is a more thoughtful look at life after the apocalypse. Terror Films will be rolling it out to more platforms in the near future. You can find out more via the film’s website or Terror Films Facebook page.