Rafelson knows exactly how to mount a scene, to move seamlessly from medium shot to close-up, or to hold on a particular framing for emphasis; nor does he forget to provide us, when necessary, with those little, but vital, silent inserts (what the French call temps morts) that go to make a film’s cadence and thoughtfulness. Yet whereas in Five Easy Pieces Jack Nicholson plays the bohemian half of the pair—the rebel, the ne’er-do-well—here he takes on the role of the introverted and uptight younger brother, whose task in life, psychically conditioned by the family background, is to rein in the anarchistic exuberance of his more worldly and enthusiastic elder sibling. Sharpness was generally good, though it became the weakest link. I thought the transfer replicated the source material accurately. The King Of Marvin Gardens 1972 Drama 1 h 43 min English audio 14A In a film that captures all the sadness of an American dream gone wrong, Bruce Dern concocts impossible get-rich-quick schemes and insists on trying them out on his brother and girlfriend. What is the weight of the American dream? The trilogy of movies he came up with may be characterized as extraordinarily nonjudgmental. Obe (pronounced “oh-bee”) has grown up on the only remaining creekside sliver of the century-plus–old Devlin family farm, most of which his great-grandfather lost to his drinking habit 100 years before, a tale that’s sketched in brief chapters that alternate with the white boy’s story. This Special Edition DVD set is part of the larger America Lost & Found: The BBS Story Criterion Collection Set. Cover Story: Montell Jordan BFF Charm: Big Sister Swoonworthy Scale: 0 Talky Talk: A.S. King, MFs (My Friends)! One could take the scene where the band of parading majorettes suddenly scatters at the sound of a whistle, and the camera moves back into extreme long shot to reveal, like an impressionist painting, the scurrying figures against the backdrop of the boardwalk and the icy wintry ocean. The majority of the film is set in a wintry Atlantic City, New Jersey and the title alludes to one of the properties in the game Monopoly (original version). For the rest, all I can say is that "The King of Marvin Gardens" is an original, individual, and often frustrating movie that takes a lot of chances and wins on about sixty percent of them. These people have worked together often enough that they have a kind of BBS feel for scenes, if you will; Nicholson and Dern work with each other as easily as any two actors. Ousmane Sembène’s second feature departs from his early-career critiques of colonial power, instead focusing on the oppressive forces manifested within postcolonial African society. These are some of the questions the movie touches on. They are “only” little films, as I have intimated, but in a way, the whole of America is present in them. One of the most memorable sequences of The King of Marvin Gardens is Jessica’s tap dance under the spotlight during the private Miss America pageant that the group puts on to pass the time (there is a hint of Waiting for Godot in the plot of this film). "For twenty years I've been wearing animal hairs on my face." The King of Marvin Gardens emerged from an altogether excellent period in American filmmaking, a sort of interregnum between the decline of the old Hollywood studio system and the rise of the new. The King of Marvin Gardens (1972), made in Adan tic City and produced on a low budget for BBS Productions, epitomizes the small-scale, personal cinema that emerged from the industrial crisis of 1969-1971. The King of Marvin Gardens ' artful depiction of disillusionment roots it firmly in the 1970s Hollywood art cinema, and its failure became one more sign of that cycle's popular limits. In the book Me and Marvin Gardens, what was the creature eating when Obe first saw him? Browse. Yes, he is a morose fellow, this literary younger brother of Jason’s. Get info about new releases, essays and interviews on the Current, Top 10 lists, and sales. In her most personal novel yet, Printz Honor Award winner Amy Sarig King tells the story of a friendship that could actually save the world. Alan J. Pakula captured the anxiety of the seventies in this noir-inflected conspiracy thriller, which offers a critique both of American institutions and of the self-made heroes who do battle with them. What strongly drew me to these three movies in general, and to The King of Marvin Gardens in particular, was the sense communicated of personal, existentialist freedom. Enjoy (as well as their melancholy) their uncontrollable zest for life. Such a view of life seemed to me, back in the seventies, very different from the British position, where, traditionally, the class you are born into tends to be the one you remain in. Screenplay Info Original Print Info Genre Keywords. The majority of the film is set in a wintry Atlantic City, New Jersey, with cinematography by László Kovács. After a brief introduction to Nicholson’s job and life, the film immediately moves him into an unknown circumstance. It stars Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern, Ellen Burstyn and Scatman Crothers. We are far from the realm of genre here; on the contrary, we are in the realm of character and psychology. In a film that captures all the sadness of an American dream gone wrong, Bruce Dern concocts impossible get-rich-quick schemes and insists on trying them out on his brother and … I n Bob Rafelson's The King Of Marvin Gardens, the Atlantic City of 1972 becomes the anteroom to Paradise for two brothers: one a depressive talk … The title alludes to the Marven Gardens in Margate, New Jersey as well as to one of the … UPLOAD … Similarly, although set in the city’s pre-legalized-gaming days, The King of Marvin Gardens is also, in its way, about gambling. Ellen Burstyn succeeds in a difficult task; she has to make her performance striking enough to justify the movie's ending, but she can't push too far or we'll know too much, too soon. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. The misspelling was introduced by Charles and Olive Todd, who taught the game to Charles Darrow, its eventual patentee.His homemade Monopoly board was copied by Parker Brothers. The King of Marvin Gardens was excellent and I'm surprised it didn't do well in its theatrical release years ago. A classic from of the New American Cinema The King of Marvin Gardens is one of the most underrated films of the 70. In the end, McPhee loses the tournament, but Atlantic City is the biggest loser of all, a crusty ghetto whose golden years are memorialized by a bronze plaque on the Boardwalk and a series of brightly colored blocks placed evenly around the edges of a board … On the surface, this may seem paradoxical, because two of the films, after all—Five Easy Pieces and this one—resolve themselves in impasse and violence. Start studying Me and Marvin Gardens. Evidently, something has gone wrong in the past; he appears to have spent time in a psychiatric institution, though he is reluctant to come out and admit it. It is surely also because the movie itself is so well written. He's tentative, unsure, private. The New Jersey resort town of Atlantic City provides the backdrop for two distinctive films made at opposite ends of the seventies: Bob Rafelson’s 1972 The King of Marvin Gardens and Louis Malle’s Atlantic City, released in 1981. Sure. Release Date(s): October 12, 1972. Movie Info. It happens that Bob Rafelson was the first American movie director this writer addressed himself to professionally when starting out as a young film critic in the seventies. The King of Marvin Gardens is a seriously underrated gem from an era where Jack Nicholson was at his peak. The animal--Marvin Gardens--soon becomes Obe's best friend and biggest secret. He is a dreamer, who asks his brother David, a radio personality from Philadelphia to help him build a paradise on a Pacific Island, yet another of his get-rich-quick schemes. The movie's performances are as good as we've come to expect from the somewhat incestuous BBS Productions. Only after it's over do some of its scenes and moments fall into place; for much of the way we've been disoriented and the story has been suspended somewhere in midair. Like the other two films in the trilogy, The King of Marvin Gardens is very confidently edited—which is perhaps only another way of saying it is very confidently shot. And here one should say something about Rafelson as craftsman. In contrast, Rocky (John G Avildsen, 1976), shot on location in Philadelphia, stands at a key transition point in the late 1970s, when a Besides playing Jessica in The King of Marvin Gardens (1972), the only other films she appeared in was A Fan's Notes (1972), as Bunny Sue, and a short film, Getting Straight (1970), uncredited. Combining elements of truth and artifice, Martin Scorsese’s documentary of Bob Dylan’s 1975–76 tour captures the legendary singer-songwriter brimming with confidence and at the peak of his gifts. Robbie Collin and Tim Robey review the rest of the week's films including Something in the Air and The King of Marvin Gardens. There are others, including Dern's blurted-out declaration of his love for his brother, that are deeply affecting. Until the movie's end, when everything falls together with a really stunning force, Rafelson and Brackman seem to be going for a series of set-pieces. Thus, the follow-up film took everyone by surprise: Rafelson's The King of Marvin Gardens (1972) didn't pretend to speak for any generational Zeitgeist, nor did it express a national open-highway restlessness, nor did it even capitalize on Nicholson's newly-famous swagger. Something about Jason, alas, tells us that he is no Donald Trump, the real-life property magnate whose fortune was based at the time on these very changes. But though in one way the premise of the film is broad and extrovert, in another way it is subtle and Chekhovian. Studio: BBS Productions. Told from 11-year-old Obe Devlin’s point of view, the story is immediately accessible as readers are drawn into his world. I have come across comments that speak of her acting as wooden, but I have to say that, for me, she is an absolutely luminous presence—a fascinating counterpart, both in type and frail physical beauty, to the Susan Anspach character (the older brother’s music-loving girlfriend) in Five Easy Pieces. https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-king-of-marvin-gardens-1972 Monopoly. Here are these interesting people, they seem to say. Visuals: 8/10. The King of Marvin Gardens: A Killing. IMDb, the world's most popular and authoritative source for movie, TV and celebrity content. The New Jersey resort town of Atlantic City provides the backdrop for two distinctive films made at opposite ends of the seventies: Bob Rafelson’s 1972 The King of Marvin Gardens and Louis Malle’s Atlantic City, released in 1981. Up until that time, my main interest had been in European art-house cinema—in a way, it still is. Chinatown is a detective story. David looks upward and frowns. It's possible, indeed, that he says more on the radio (or into his tape recorder) in this movie than he ever gets around to saying in the actual situations he finds himself in. The movie encompasses these two possibilities of interpretation simultaneously, through an attention to tone, to nuance, and to sudden shifts in psychological register that is altogether authoritative. Undoubtedly, Robinson walks the walk here. It backs into its real subject in much the same way that "Five Easy Pieces", Rafelson's previous film, did. Rafelson’s attitude toward the idea of self-invention, of “living the dream,” of escaping from class, struck me then—and still does—as tremendously open and democratic. It's well worth purchasing and will provide several hours of viewing pleasure. Click here to learn more. Read more. The animal--Marvin Gardens--soon becomes Obe's best friend and biggest secret. It was the third film that Rafelson directed himself, after Head and Five Easy Pieces, and it comes near the end of the BBS story. No dialogue here is necessary, only the clanking of the cable machinery in the background. Movie Name: The King of Marvin Gardens. Or are they in some curious way lovers? Jason Staebler, The King of Marvin Gardens, has gone directly to jail, lives on the Boardwalk and fronts for the local mob in Atlantic City. Yet what most strikes the viewer now, in addition to their delightful modesty, is the sheer range of sociological reference that Rafelson managed to pack into them. Five Easy Pieces is set in California and the Pacific Northwest; The King of Marvin Gardens thousands of miles across the country, on the Atlantic seaboard, in the depths of winter; while Stay Hungry takes us, with its own kind of uncanny precision, to the world of Alabama and the Deep South. Acting: 9/10. Together and in retrospect, these works are sufficiently different from one another not to feel repetitious but sufficiently similar to suggest a point of view, a take on the world, an artistic vision that has not always been credited to this director. There are two of them, older and younger, and they are in ambiguous relation to each other: Are they mother and daughter? Immediately, there is a communicated sense of interiority, of reflection, of melancholy that is absolutely part of the movie’s distinctiveness. But luck is against them both and the game … she says. Like Five Easy Pieces, The King of Marvin Gardens portrays a conflictual relationship between two brothers of strikingly contrasting personalities (much more centrally in the latter, of course). Rafelson had directed three movies for the company before this one, and Nicholson had acted in three and directed one ("Drive, He Said," in which Dern was wonderfully uptight and focused as the basketball coach). The King of Marvin Gardens is a key film in this context, taking its place alongside other important movies of the late sixties and early seventies that emerged from BBS (and its precursor, Raybert), the independent production company that Rafelson cofounded with industry insider Bert Schneider and Steve Blauner. Bonus Factors: Environmentalism, Toxic Masculinity, Friendships, Monopoly Relationship Status: Where Have You Been All My Life? "They're made out of mink hairs, did you know that?" Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. It is one of several collaborations between Nicholson and director Bob Rafelson. There's the matter of the older blonde marching into the hotel next door to take a bath ("Hell, you told me you owned the damn place," she says, then Jason explains the deal is still at the stage of "negotiations over language."). Set against a forbidding backdrop of war, this masterpiece of Soviet cinema contemplates the sources of evil while also searching for signs of meaning and divinity in a fallen world. Like Five Easy Pieces, The King of Marvin Gardens portrays a conflictual relationship between two brothers of strikingly contrasting personalities (much more centrally in the latter, of course). In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism. User Reviews Other Reviews Articles Money Awards Quotes Trivia Home Video Reviews Misc Notes Alternate Versions Theatrical Aspect Ratio Video Fan Sites. It is against the background of such an establishment, for example, that much of Malle’s film unfolds: its heroine, a wannabe croupier played by Susan Sarandon, holds down a waitressing job in the oyster bar of one of these vast indoor palaces. A great deal of the movie is about the unacknowledged sexual competition between the two women, but this (like a few other things) becomes important only gradually. Mark Le Fanu teaches film at University College London. This unit contains the following for the amazing novel, Me and Marvin Gardens by Amy Sarig King: Student glossary 2 Writing prompts + alternate prompts CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.5.9, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.5.9.A, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.6.9 Compare & Contrast- can be used at any time - … But to keep him safe from the developers and Tommy and his friends, Obe must make a decision that might change everything. On general release. Just like the odd hybrid animal portrayed, Me and Marvin Gardens is an unusual mix, a contemporary coming-of-age story with a dash of the fantastic, all confidently handled by author Amy Sarig King. Which meant the movie usually looked somewhat drab, as that fit with the story and the film stocks of the era. But to keep him safe from the developers and Tommy and his friends, Obe must make a decision that might change everything. FOR The King of Marvin Gardens (1972) YOU CAN. The idea that drives Jason is to buy a remote island in the Pacific, where he and his companions henceforth will be able to live the life of Riley—patently over the top as an ambition, and a fit subject, perhaps, for a satire on human pretensions. 3 out of 5 stars. There is piquancy in the fact—central, somehow, to the feel of Rafelson’s film, and part of its curiously suggestive symbolism—that the different districts of Atlantic City, including Marvin Gardens, are known to the American public as squares in the game of Monopoly. The whole masquerade is carried off with style and cheek—aided, to be sure, by the charm of a smiling Nicholson, acting as host of the ceremony, for this is one of the rare occasions when David can be seen to loosen up a bit, and to shed his habitual mask of tortured morosity. Criterion must be commended for their great efforts on this set. The King of Marvin Gardens is a 1972 American drama film. The King of Marvin Gardens, also starring a brilliant Ellen Burstyn as Jason’s bitter aging beauty-queen squeeze, is one of the most devastating character studies of the seventies. Cover Story: Montell Jordan Middle Grade routinely gets better covers than … He has written extensively about Russian and Japanese cinema. Considering this is me, it's probably mostly to do with the cast. Genre(s): Drama. The film, in general, seems to me to have a miraculously correct level of backstory, those little details that convince you the characters have come from somewhere—that they possessed lives before the film started, and that the particular episode you are looking at is set within the durée of a complete human life. Indeed, it might be better seen as part of another grouping, a 1970s Rafelson trilogy, along with Five Easy Pieces and the later, non-BBS Stay Hungry (1976). The wonderful Ellen Burstyn plays Sally, the older of the pair, while the role of the soubrette, Jessica, who turns out in fact to be Sally’s stepdaughter, is taken by Julia Anne Robinson, an actress whose sole appearance in movies this was; two years later, she died tragically, in an apartment fire. They are the crooked timber of humanity. That decade s… As the city has declined, the ownership of its real estate has loosened up, and there are chances for a shrewd businessman to carve out lucrative deals for himself—if he’s up to it. There are scenes (including a simulated Miss America pageant in a deserted hall and a horseback confrontation between Nicholson and Dern) that are hopelessly affected. Jack Nicholson’s protagonist is a radio monologist, which suggests the viewer should listen to the content of his dialogue, but the secret of Marvin Gardens is that content’s unimportance. Contribute . The King of Marvin Gardens appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. But the real fire in the film comes from Bruce Dern’s Jason. The King of Marvin Gardens [rating:3/4] A drama about a conman and his brother’s desperate attempt to make some easy money. The King of Marvin Gardens reminds us of the diversity and dynamism of the New Hollywood movement. Or the moment at which, having descended from the cable ride above the city, David is briefly left on his own, without his brother. Most of the movie takes place in Atlantic City, where the metaphor of a Monopoly game is employed a little too persistently, I thought. The King Of Marvin Gardens 1972 Drama 1 h 43 min English audio M In a film that captures all the sadness of an American dream gone wrong, Bruce Dern concocts impossible get-rich-quick schemes and insists on trying them out on his brother and girlfriend. Marven Gardens is famous as a yellow property on the original version of the Monopoly game board, although the game misspelled the name as Marvin Gardens. It is an amazing turn all around, and not only because of the intrinsic skill and energy of the actor. THE KING OF MARVIN GARDENS Now on Digital and DVD. Now on Digital and DVD. The King of Marvin Gardens subtitles. Even her false eyelashes. Film, Drama. There is an unhappy lobster dinner with two Japanese investors reputed to have money; they wear their lobster-proof bibs happily, but don't come through. 1972; US; 1h 43min; 15; Directed by: Bob Rafelson; Written by: Jacob Brackman, Bob Rafelson; Cast: Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern, Ellen Burstyn; 1970s Atlantic City: David (Nicholson) is a depressive talk radio DJ and brother of excitable crook Jason (Dern), who plans to open a Hawaiian resort. Ellen Bursten rounds out the cast as … The King Of Marvin Gardens. Blu-ray from £64.64 DVD £13.95 VHS Tape £24.28 Free delivery on your first order . The dialogue, by Jacob Brackman, crackles with wit, and at the same time, structurally speaking, there is a sort of openness about the way the story unfolds that is altogether rare in the American mainstream. data from AFI catalog. Most of the action seems to involve a disagreement between Jason, who turns out to be a minor hood, and the mysterious Lewis, who is the black rackets boss and moneyman in town. Both are attached to Jason, although throughout the film, our unpredictable hero seems to be trying to off-load the younger one onto his brother—as a reward, or a bribe, for cooperating with him. It's set in Los Angeles, like many of the best are, and at first glance you could even mistake it for a tribute to the city. Obe's an eminently likeable narrator with an irresistible kid voice that carries the reader easily along. Bob Rafelson's "The King of Marvin Gardens" is a perversely satisfying movie, it works after going out of its way not to, and a very eccentric one. Films in brief: Something in the Air, The King of Marvin Gardens. Jason is living with a blonde on the far side of the hill (Ellen Burstyn) and her stepdaughter, a blonde coming up fast on this side (Julia Anne Robinson). The second half of the seventies famously saw the birth of the modern blockbuster, with such movies as Jaws (1975) and Star Wars (1977) leading the way. Advertisement. ABOUT. Story: 8/10. The King of Marvin Gardens is a 1972 American drama film about a daydreamer who convinces his radio personality brother to help fund one of his get-rich-quick schemes. Examining the Relationships in The King of Marvin Gardens, and the Possibility of a Reference to Kubrick's Lolita Ladybug, Ladybug . Still, turned only a few degrees clockwise, this is also the recipe for tragedy, and The King of Marvin Gardens is indeed a dark, pessimistic movie. As David Staebler—provincial talk-show host, would-be poet and philosopher of the nighttime airwaves—Nicholson delivers a more than adequate performance; when does he ever not? But where film is concerned, American cinema can never be ignored; it is so obviously at the center of all reflection on the art. The original trailer in high definition of the The King of Marvin Gardens directed by Bob Rafelson and starring Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern, Ellen Burstyn. Carl Hiaasen and Louis Sachar have successfully broached the topic, and now Amy Sarig King’s latest book, Me and Marvin Gardens, joins the list. And there is a truly fine scene, almost surrealistic, in which the stepmother concedes the sexual sweepstakes to her stepdaughter and throws all of her clothes and makeup apparatus into a bonfire on the beach. After Marvin Gardens, Robinson was cast in a community play in Eugene, Oregon. Massively there then, in their civic solidity and confidence, their erstwhile bourgeois prosperity, the famous hotels along the boardwalk are, from another perspective, simply theatrical facades—subprime Monopoly pieces to be bartered and thrown around between speculators with the lightness of a beach ball. Search. BOOK REPORT for Me and Marvin Gardens by Amy Sarig (A.S.) King. He is also a dreamer who asks his brother, David, a radio personality from Philadelphia to help him build a paradise on a Pacific Island - asking him to believe in yet another of his dreams, yet another of his get-rich-quick schemes. Create. Yet whereas in Five Easy Pieces Jack Nicholson plays the bohemian half of the pair—the rebel, the ne’er-do-well—here he takes on the role of the introverted and uptight younger brother, whose task in life, psychically … Time Out says. The King of Marvin Gardens, also starring a brilliant Ellen Burstyn as Jason’s bitter aging beauty-queen squeeze, is one of the most devastating character studies of the seventies. He works in a darkened studio, stopping sometimes to search for words, and it's evident that his broadcasts tear something loose from deep inside. Nice drama with a good cast. All three films, of course, are “minor” works, in the sense that they were conceived of on an intimate scale, and produced on relatively low budgets. In her most personal novel yet, Printz Honor Award winner Amy Sarig King tells the story of a friendship that could actually save the world. That may seem a perverse way of putting it, for in a way the film is “just” a comedy, its ironic potential lying, as in comedy it always does, between what the characters may be hoping to get out of life and what—because of their various ineptitudes—they will be forced in the end to put up with. Feels like it could have even gone farther. And how odd it is that a largely forgotten film should feel so utterly unforgettable. The King of Marvin Gardens is an extremely quiet film. 8.0 Overall Score. Bob Rafelson / USA / 1972 / 103 min. The King of Marvin Gardens. The King of Marvin Gardens. That decade saw tremendous changes in the fabric of the city—changes that one could say were prefigured in Rafelson’s film, only to be confirmed, with documentary precision, by Malle’s. Marvin Gardens seems to be the one place that has escaped the urban decay, and of course, no one in Atlantic City knows where it is. While there, Robinson skipped a cast party and went home early. AKA: The Philosopher King, A Marvin Gardens királya. There's the Boardwalk, of course, and Marvin Gardens itself; but there are also Jason's attempts to buy a hotel, and the fact that he's in jail when we first meet him. Take them for what they are. : Watching Gene Kelly From a Child's-Eye View by Ethan Warren. 4.8 out of 5 stars 118 ratings. And what is its substance? The King of Marvin Gardens (1972) MAIN Links. The film’s principal protagonist, Jason Staebler (Bruce Dern), has established himself there, along with a pair of slightly ambiguous girlfriends, hoping to make a killing in the property market. The film stars Bruce Dern and Jack Nicholson (cast against type as an introverted depressive) as a pair of estranged brothers reunited in Atlantic City to try to get scam artist Dern's ill-conceived property development dreams off the ground. Amy Sarig King faces that challenge in “Me and Marvin Gardens,” her heartfelt middle-grade debut (she has written many acclaimed young adult novels as A.S. King). This gets us back to the movie’s subtlety and understatement. Rafelson's 1972 film was a flop on release … The King of Marvin Gardens (1972) Published on August 18, 2020, by JPRoscoe - Posted in Movies 0. The corroborating details must be there, but they mustn’t be too many, and they must be insinuated almost without viewers’ noticing them—for instance, during the great quarrel that erupts when the group are packing their bags to leave the hotel, Jason holds in his hands a couple of miniature athletic trophies, testimony to some valued physical prowess of his youth. Jason's deals are based on reckless confidence in Lewis's money, and Lewis isn't going along. They're going to buy an island near Hawaii and develop it into a resort. Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer, HBO's It's a Sin is a Radiant Coming-of-Age Story in a Dark Period, Three-Hour Brunch Friend: Greta Gerwig's Breakups, Getting to the Heart of America in David Lynch's The Straight Story, Bright Wall/Dark Room February 2021: Who Could Ask for Anything More? His most recent book, Believing in Film: Christianity and Classic European Cinema (Bloomsbury, 2018), has just been issued in paperback. Overview Full Credits Full Synopsis Notes Music. The dream, so to speak, is always valid—even if it crashes in flames. The King Of Marvin Gardens is a film that I enjoyed although I am having a tough time trying to think of the reasons why that might be. Marvin Gardens (a misspelling by the game's creator of Marven Gardens, a township south of Atlantic City) is a yellow property on the Monopoly board. Without nudging the viewer too much, the photography of László Kovács captures the city as a playing board.