FASTPACED GAMBLING WITH MOLLY & AARON IN “MOLLY’S GAME”
HOW FAMOUS AARON SORKIN’S DIRECTORIAL DEBUT TURNED OUT
WRITTEN 20200901
WELL, I HAD THIS THOUGHT, WHEN FIRST SEEING MOLLY’S GAME
That maybe, the screenwriter turned out to be someone very known for their style. Turned out I was right: Aaron Sorkin.
FAST TALKING PEOPLE & AARON
Some people do believe in the power of fast-talking people. Much more in talking fast to people, to demonstrate higher intelligence to everyone around. And Aaron Sorkin uses it.
LIKE A LOT
AARON SORKIN’S WHEN ASKED ABOUT HIS USE OF RAPID DIALOGUE AS TOOL FOR INTENTIONALLY MAKING PEOPLE SEEM RATHER INTELLIGENT
Basically his movies only consist out of fast-talking people, seemingly very intelligent.
THE SOCIAL NETWORK
Obviously a very nice flick indeed. Although we do not really know about who got how much money at the end of the movie, the one thing we do remember, the one thing we should remember, is this: Mark Zuckerburg is kind of a douche bag. A fast-talking, witty, very intelligent one. But we do not know for sure if he realizes, he is.
NOT REAL TALKING, BUT MORE INTERESTING
Of course, movies never really portray what’s going on in the world. You always got limitations. Usually maximum screentime of two hours. Only visuals and audio. But, Aaron Sorkin’s portrayal of our world is
NOT REALLY A POTRAYAL OF OUR WORLD
Because almost no one could speak this fast, this witty, this intelligently. His method is therefore not only a method of the main characters demonstrating their abilities to the other characters, but mainly:
A METHOD TO CONFUSE
Us. The most important part of the whole equation. And it kind of works. See, this is where speed watching fundamentally fails. It’s this very rare case, this very rare kind of movie not so much intended to be easy and for everybody to follow. It fails because the speeded-up dialogue itself is already part of the intended watching experience. You cannot keep up when speed watching, because you shouldn’t be able to when watching normal
YOU SIMPLY CANNOT
really keep up with all the explaining. The thing about the complexity of dialogue and in general about many things is this: the only variable, that really determines, how well we can understand something is: speed. Slow something down til infinity and it seemingly becomes very easy. And speed up things till infinity and it goes the other way. Of course, this only holds true for human dialogue, for the most part, for explaining things. The complexity of the real world doesn’t necessarily correlate with the fact ‘how hard to follow’ something or someone is. So,
LET’S MEET MOLLY, THEN
I almost immediately looked up, if the story indeed was a real ony. Not this “Maybe based on something that could have happened in the real world’ — thing. I guess,
IT’S TRUE
Altough I do not really remember looking it up. Or did I really look it up? I thought so. But honestly, I don’t know. And here is the first effect of Aaron Sorkins writing. We just believe, it’s real. It has to be. I mean if someone is talking this fast, he for sure does know one thing or the other about things. And stuff. Therefore, we assume rather than check.
MOLLY WAS AN OLYMPIAN
Which of course is the side story the movie begins with, designed to teach us one thing: Molly is a tough one. Which is rather nice to know. Because if nobody told us, whether through voiceover or visuals: we simply wouldn’t know. That’s also kind of the crux about the movie business. You cannot just tell something without first showing how it is meant to be interpreted. One of the fundamental advantages of longer-form content, series basically, is: they got
MUCH MORE TIME
And since for the most part, in the beginning no one knows anything about the main characters of a movie, usually a good amount of screentime goes into telling us, what it’s about. What they are about. And at the same time trying to not only tell us, but also show us. And then: introduce change… Because without change, nothing changes.
DOES MOLLY CHANGE?
That’s actually not only one of the most important question to ask about a flick in general, but also a rather tricky one. Especially for Molly’s Game. She does kind of change in the end. When her father out of nowhere appears to watch her ice skating in the park. Of courses, he knew. Why shouldn’t he. And if he didn’t, the plot wouldn’t have worked.
THIS IS THE TURNING POINT
At least, a little bit. Her father tells her, the reason he acted more distant in her presence in comparison to her siblings: she knew about his cheating on her mother. So he just didn’t know how to deal with her. But the thing is: it kind of changes nothing. And it also doesn’t change Molly.
DOES MOLLY CHANGE?
I actually think, not so much. It could be the same with Mark Zuckerberg in the Social Network. He also doesn’t really change. This actually could be either a special very good trick out of Sorin’s magic tool box, maybe hiding the change somewhere. But I
CANNOT REALLY FIND IT
In the end, everything went smoothly. Of course, we as an audience usually root for the people or characters, who actively influence their own trajectory, influencing what’s happening by their own decisions. And showing responsibility for them. But the question arises, especially when it comes to Molly, is it possible to be
LIKEABLE WITHOUT CHANGE?
Kind of. Not only in the movies and especially this one but seemingly also in real life. Cause this stuff happened. The frame for this movie is the dialogue between Molly and a lawyer. One she tries for her case. Because she
DID SOME STUFF
Like drugs. But first, here is what Molly does after not being able to compete anymore: Get’s hired as an assistant. By someone who secretly runs very high-stakes and also
VERY HIGH-SOCIETY POKER GAMES
His name is Dean. And when it comes to the question, is
DEAN CLEAN?
WE DON’T KNOW FOR SURE
But a thing we do know is: Molly gets involved with Dean. ‘s Poker. And apparently, due to her intelligence, after a while picks up how the game works. And we are not talking about poker itself, but rather the
GAME BEHIND THE GAME
And gains influence within the community of the players. Also player X. In real life Tobey Maguire. Kind of
MAKING AN ACT OUT OF EVERYTHING
Seemingly. She then get’s fired by Dean and starts her own game. Runs it. But when it comes to dealing with risky stuff. And also with high sums of money, there tends to be some risk involved. Like the fear of not being able to cover the losses of players unable to pay
SHE TAKES IT
also a percentage of large pots, she wants to prevent this from happening. Which makes her game illegal. And is the
BEGINNING OF THE END
where she eventually finds herself with a case against her. And wanting to publish a book. And saving a cat.
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someone writing books about screenwriting. And coined the phrase of the “ Save-the-cat-moment “. Basically, an action performed by the main character, usually in the beginning,
CARING FOR SOMEONE IN NEED
A thing Molly does. By trying to protect the identities and private lives of some players when publishing her newly written book. And this in the end not only makes us as an audience and her lawyer
LIKE HER
But also probably was at least one of the reasons we got this movie about real-life Molly Blum in the first place.
IN THE END
She only has to do 200H of community service. Probably not much change happening there. So to answer the now burning question:
DID MOLLY CHANGE?
And learn something. Making her a different person than in the beginning? Kind of. Also kind of not. Also we kind of don’t really ever find out because we do not really understand much of what is said
