Chastain is scintillating

Rating: 10/10 (18 June 2020)

I loathe the voice over technique because it signals a failure of the cinematic imagination. You tell instead of show, and film is primarily intended to show. So how come I was glued to the screen every second of Molly's Game? The glorious, unbeatable, irrepressible Ms Chastain. Her magic and charisma result in a screen presence that dominates her films to the extent that flaws in the movie making process go unnoticed. This film is no exception. She scintillates on the screen, in the characterisation, and because the narration is in her voice, it becomes a seamless part of that characterisation.
Whether she narrates or interacts with the other characters, she achieves a multilayered convincing characterisation. I'm reluctant to call it a "performance" so naturally is this character built and developed.
Mr Elba is equally brilliant, having a greatly charismatic screen presence himself. The chemistry between the two jumps off the screen. The dialogue and editing pace are cracking. They elevate a rather ordinary real story into cinematic myth territory. O'Dowd and Costner make remarkable character contributions too. Cera is a tad miscast as Player X, he just doesn't have that evil undertow the character requires. But this is another Chastain triumph. She totally owns this movie, dominating the screen in a powerful, layered, thoroughly convincing piece of work, morphing into the character so naturally you can't take your eyes off her. Outstanding work from her and Mr Sorkin.