Chess pops up in a surprising number of feature films. Just look at all the documentaries and dramas about the outrageously gifted Bobby Fischer. Shogi, or Japanese chess, is a different and smaller story, though "Satoshi: A Move for Tomorrow," a 2016 film about prodigy Satoshi Murayama, garnered awards for its star, Kenichi Matsuyama.
"Shottan, The Miracle" is another shogi biopic, this time about Shoji "Shottan" Segawa (Ryuhei Matsuda), a struggler who finally got his chance to turn pro at the age of 35. By contrast, shogi's reigning genius, Sota Fujii, was 14 when he joined the professional ranks last year.
Directed by Toshiaki Toyoda, who trained to be a professional shogi player himself as a boy, "Shottan, The Miracle" is a workman-like examination of Segawa's career, minus the surrealism and violence of Toyoda's earlier work. (See his 1998 debut, "Pornostar," for a particularly vivid example).