The Music of Chance

Philip Haas's 1993 film is adapted from Paul Auster's novel. Nashe, a former firefighter driving aimlessly after coming into an inheritance, picks up a young gambler named Pozzi. Pozzi says he is certain to win a poker game against two wealthy men. They lose, and the debt is too large to pay. In exchange they agree to build a wall on the two men's land. The second half of the film is spent building that wall, and the situation slowly becomes captivity. The strength of the narrative is that force is never used. Everyone honours the agreement, nobody locks a door, and there is still no way out. The idea of fate and chance in Auster's text is preserved. Mandy Patinkin and James Spader take the leads, and Auster appears briefly. Who it's for: those who like literary adaptations and allegorical narrative. Who it's not for: viewers wanting explanation; the film never says why the rules hold.