MOLLY'S GAME: Pokers of Being a Wallflower

This review was requested by Don Rebel. Many thanks to Don for supporting Post-Credit Coda through our Patreon.

Director: Aaron Sorkin
Writer: Aaron Sorkin
Cast: Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Kevin Costner, Michael Cera, Jeremy Strong, Chris O'Dowd
Runtime: 140 mins.
2017

Molly's Game begins with its best scene. While Molly Bloom (Jessica Chastain) spits machine gun exposition voiceover, we see her prep physically and mentally for a defining moment in her life: a shot at qualifying as an Olympic skier. Molly's patter paces the edit. She contextualizes the specifics of the circumstance, the enormity of the stakes, and the fallout of the accident that is to take place. It feels propulsive, thorough, alive.

It also feels like a bit of an apology, as if well aware that rest of the movie alternates between nondescript rooms and hallways. Molly's Game is the directorial debut for Aaron Sorkin, famous for penning political scripts with rat-a-tat dialogue. Here may be his least openly political work, a step by step recounting of Molly Bloom's rise to prominence in the high stakes underground poker scene, and then to even greater prominence as tell-all autobiographer and subject of an FBI investigation into the Russian mob. In the courtroom drama framing narrative, Molly insists upon her innocence and ignorance, though she refuses to cooperate fully when it comes to naming names.

Aw Geez: Guilt and Dread in the Coen Moral Universe

This essay on the relationship between Guilt and Dread (and the at least double circular loops they inflict upon the other and us) was commissioned by P V. I chose to explore this topic through the filmography of the Coen Bros. There will be a few spoilers throughout, so feel free to judiciously skip over sections for movies you haven't seen. Many thanks to P V for supporting Post-Credit Coda through our Patreon.

The problem is not that there is evil in the world, the problem is that there is good, because otherwise... who would care?

-V.M. Varga, Fargo season 3

Aw geez.

-Fargo, both the movie and the TV show, all the time, constantly

We tend to think of Guilt and Dread as simple symptoms with simple causes. If you are guilty, it means you have done something wrong. If you are feeling dread, you don't want to take responsibility for what is to come.

It's not so simple. The Coen Bros. have constructed a filmography of masterpieces exploring the endless complexities of Guilt and Dread. They use twisted genre conventions and stunning character work to show us what makes heroes, villains, and regular everyday people tick. We see characters who experience Guilt and Dread as a spiritual matter, a practical matter, a hindrance, an opportunity, and a curse; we also see how they are all deceived. For Guilt and Dread are mediators in the complex relationships between our various selves, ourselves and others, ourselves and our environments, ourselves and our trauma.

There is one universal truth in all of this: Like Jonah and the whale, the harder we try to escape ourselves, the more ensnared we become.