Molly's Game (2017)

You don't notice your breath until you hold it for too long, this can be caused by feeling tension in something you're watching. This story will have you suffocating with immersion.

Molly's Game follows the true story of Molly Bloom (Jessica Chastain), a once olympic level skier who ran some of the most famous underground poker games in the world but fell into trouble with the Russian Mafia and in turn, the FBI.

In all honesty, Aaron Sorkin is one of my favourite writers and overall creators to have existed. His mastery of dialogue, pacing and control of information is always astounding. I found Molly's Game to be another perfect example of this as it approaches the subject of determination, unwavering pride and potential in the form of Molly Bloom and how it can build great athletes and people in general but there is always sacrifice, be it in a financial capacity, physical damage or in emotional distance from family and friends, all of which happen to Molly but truthfully, this a specially crafted work of fiction made to force the audience to think, it was true to they begin to think about it naturally, what making that sacrifice means and how to weigh it against our own personal goals and successes. Molly Bloom reaches out of this film, takes the audience by the scruff of the neck and interrogates them, demanding their excuse as to why they're not doing their hardest and sacrificing all for the goals they complain about every day. In this current climate of broken economies, markets, politics combined with the newer generations attempting to make a career out of their hobbies and more creative sides, the missions and success of Molly Bloom become all the more relevant and real as you can achieve all those things and it's going to be incredibly hard but the reality is, nobody cares about your complaining and doing it isn't going to get you any further.

The performance of Jessica Chastain is brilliant, her confidence and slightly terrifying sense of calm in the background of all the poker scenes and scenes of competition really drive the force of the character of Molly, I could only compare it to Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada; the power she exudes by simply knowing she's more powerful and never wavering in this knowledge. Just as strong is Kevin Costner and his callous portrayal of Larry Bloom, Molly's father who is depicted as more of a coach than a father at most times and because of this he becomes somewhat of an antagonistic force that pushes Molly to succeed beyond his realm of achievement and the standards set by her two brothers, this all comes to an incredible emotional climax as Larry meets his daughter after an FBI meeting, he then proceeds to unleash his professional psychology skills on her in order to force a realisation that everything she's achieved out of anger after her accident trying to enter the olympics was because she tripped over a stick, something so insignificant that the punishment she's been throwing on herself and others became way more than a coping mechanism, it became an addiction. Idris Elba is another brilliant addition as Molly's lawyer, Charlie Jaffey. Admittedly, I believed it to be an unusual casting decision given Sorkin's style and Elba's filmography but he took it on fantastically, executing the high speed back and forth conversations with ease and unleashing a brilliant monologue praising Molly to two FBI agents that easily became my favourite moment in the film.

This film, in the same vein as the rest of Aaron Sorkin's work, demands focus, attention and the capacity to take in information at elevated speeds. Aaron Sorkin knows he may not bring in as much money as a fantasy franchise and he may not have a following of superhero cosplays in the millions but the one thing he does know is that his dialogue is music for the intelligent, a rhythm is established of learning and informative exposition that, if followed by someone with an eidetic memory, would form them into a genius simply by watching his collected works. What I'm trying to say is if you dare to watch this film with your phone on, go and watch The Emoji Movie or some other garbage that only requires two brain cells because you don't deserve to even attempt to understand this symphony of information.

4.5/5 - Ace's high.