From writer/director Stephen Belber comes the gripping and intense real-life drama Match; starring Patrick Stewart, Matthew Lillard and Carla Gugino.

We see a day in the life of  Tobi Powell (Stewart) a seasoned professor of dance at Juilliard; except this is to be no ordinary day as he encounters Lisa (Gugino) & Mark Davis (Hillard) who claim to be researching for a dissertation turn out to have a hidden agenda with potentially huge implications.

Stewart’s performance here is Electric; an in your face and no-holes-bared tour-de-force which gives us a full frontal look into his characters psyche; however some may find it overplayed at times it is a delight to watch none the less. This is a real performance piece with very few scenes other than the interactions with the main ensemble (Tobi, Lisa & Mark) and the cast certainly rises to the challenged with Gugino providing a suitable female influence in the film. Lillard is perhaps the least interesting of the three but none the less delivers some great performances in some very difficult and gut-wrenching scenes. The writing here delves the whole range of the human experience and really allows Stewart to show off his talents if nothing else.

5/5 – See this film; even if only for Stewart’s performance.