MOLLY’S GAME

US, 2017, 140 minutes, Colour.
Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Kevin Costner, Michael Chiro, Jeremy Strong, Chris O' Dowd, Brian d’Arcy James, Bill Camp, Graham Greene.
Directed by Aaron Sorkin.

Molly’s Game is actually poker. She does not play herself. She supervises, controls, vets possible players, learns the techniques, and is handsomely tipped by her wealthy clients and gamblers. She is played by Jessica Chastain, another very strong performance.

The writer-director is Aaron Sorkin. He is well-known as a storyteller, excellent script writer, and now he makes his directorial debut as well as writing the screenplay. While the plot is quite strong, it is the dialogue which is very powerful and the actors give it more than capable delivery. This is very true of an extensive voice-over from Jessica Chastain (perhaps a little rushed at the opening, getting so much information across). Idris Elba is her lawyer and has some very powerful scenes and some very forthright speeches. Kevin Costner, on the other hand, as her father is intense but laid-back.

This is a true story, based on a book by Molly Bloom (some references to James Joyce’s Ulysses and assumptions that she is Irish), but some characters and episodes have been fictionalised, as they always are, for dramatic purposes.

We are challenged right from the opening sequence in voice-over to speculate on what would be the worse thing that could happen in sport. There is talk about losing. Molly actually has been a top skier since she was a little girl, pressurised severely to succeed by her psychologist-teacher father., She suffered an accident and spent time in hospital. She recovered, was on the Olympic team but had another accident and was hospitalised. Molly is certainly a determined woman.

Then the scene shifts. Molly is in bed in her apartment. In the early hours, there is a disturbance at her door and armed FBI agents come to arrest her. The accusation is that she has been running illegal poker games and that she has been associating with Russian Mafia gangsters.

The film is quite long but moves rapidly – except for audiences like this reviewer who have no knowledge or experience of a poker game except that everybody is bluffing and putting on their poker face. This is a bit of a drawback for non--players to understand the details of what is going on.

However, there is much else to be involved in, especially Molly trying to persuade her lawyer to take on her case even though she has no money, all confiscated by the government. He has a rather erudite little daughter who was influential in his taking on the case despite himself.

He reads Molly’s book. He sits and listens to her. He interrogates her. And this gives the opportunity for flashbacks, to Molly as a little girl and her skiing and defying her father, to a teenager deliberately baiting her father at the meal table as he sits with the mother he has betrayed and with two sons who were to become very very successful. We are taken back to Molly’s time as a cocktail waitress in Los Angeles, the offer of a job in an estate agency and the boss’s request to her to supervise and then organise the poker games with his high-rolling friends.

There are some interesting subplots involving some of the players, especially Michael Cera as a rather vain and flirting actor, Brian d’Arcy James Is a seemingly innocuous, ignorant player who is rather more shrewd in money matters, Bill Camp as a talented player who gets baited, losing his cool and losing his money.

When Molly is closed down in Los Angeles, she moves to New York, sets up new games, especially with the help of an Irish friend, Chris O’Dowd?, but this leads to the criminal associations and her downfall. To cope, she has become dependent on medication, both uppers to keep her going, downers to give her some kind of rest.

Molly’s character doesn’t quite go in the directions we might have expected and so there is an interesting dramatic conclusion to her story, her appearance in court, her father’s reappearance one evening as she goes skating and his giving her a three-minute therapy lesson for her to ask the right questions to get answers about her relationship with him and its consequences.

For those who know their poker, no problems. For those who don’t, some attention pauses throughout the film, but soon taken up again with the interesting plot and the performances – and the strong dialogue.

1. Based on a true story? Fictionalised characters and aspects? Molly Bloom, the literary references throughout?

2. The director, his skills with dialogue? His reputation? The use of the voice-over, Molly’s delivery? Charlie, the legal background, his impassioned speeches? The lower key for Molly’s father?

3. The structure, the introduction to Molly with the questions about sport loss? Her arrest? The insertion of the flashbacks? Molly as a child, the worst sport experiences? Her skiing experience, as child, the insistence of her father, her defiance? At age 13, skills, accident, hospital, recovery? An adolescent taunting the father of the meal table? Her Olympic skills, class, the tension before her run, the sticks, the accident, hospital, recovery?

4. The transition to her arrest, the FBI agents, armed, the charges? The effect on her, seeking out Charlie, the visit, the encounter with Stella and the discussion, her arguments with Charlie, persuading him, bringing her chair closer to his desk, preparation for the arraignment, the correcting his terminology, his declaration as her lawyer?

5. Molly, her situation, the confiscation of all the money? The dependence on drugs, uppers and downers? The two-year break, recovery, living with her mother?

6. Charlie, his personality, knowledge, reputation for integrity? Capacity for listening, reading the book, the discussions with her, getting the information, understanding her? The truth, the legal situation, the deals, the plea, recovering her money, going to court with her, her pleading guilty? His relationship with Stella, the studies, The Crucible? Stella’s admiration for Molly?

7. Molly, strong personality, the arguments with her father when she was a teenager, the mockery of Freud? His being a psychology professor? The home video of the quiz about her attitudes to family, heroes? Her parents and the distance between them? The father as a psychologist, bringing up his family, the successful brothers, separation from his wife, infidelity towards her?

8. Molly in Los Angeles, cocktail waitress, charm? Keith, his interest, offering the job, real estate, her computer knowledge, inviting her to organise the game, the texting? The management, observing, business tips, skills? Studying on the computer, astronomy? With each of the clients, Keith, his moods, firing? The seizing the opportunity, the transfer to the other hotel, hiring girls, the dealer, the clients all arriving, their accepting the proposition?

9. The actor, his charm, flirting, deals, taking a percentage of Harlan’s costs, preferring to destroy rather than enjoy the game? Exposing Molly, her change of games? Brad, ignorant, eager to play, not winning, defeating Harlan, his being arrested for his Ponzi scheme, shrewdness? Giving information to the FBI? Harlan, his skills, his anger with Brad, his dependence on the actor?

10. Molly transferring to New York City, the setup, the friendship with Douglas Downey, his thinking her Irish because of James Joyce? The variety of contacts, the success of the games, Downey and his attraction, the money? Contacts with Mafia types, with the Russians? Her driver, setting up the interview with the thugs? Her rejection of the proposition? Alleged parcels for her, the Russian thug and his brutality bashing her?

11. The arraignment, her being prepared to go to jail, the loss of the money? Her father arriving, her going skating, his talking with her, the reconciliation, the therapy session, the three essential question she should have asked to find out about herself?

12. The cumulative effect of the portrait of Molly? A character? Charlie and his intense speech on her behalf to the lawyers? To the judge?

13. The judge, his despising of Wall Street and criminality, his putting Molly on a bond, community service?

14. Molly and her integrity, not wanting the hard drive to expose people’s falls and characters?

15. The final dinner, happy, Molly wondering about her future?