By Hipolito M Navarrete, Managing Editor, Publisher
As I sit here and write this with my Gansitos and hot chocolate from 7/11 on Christmas Day, I can say that I just saw a film that was directed by a screenwriter, Molly’s Game, and like the rest of the almost packed theater, it was a very cool experience, it was different, but it was very cool. Aaron Sorkin’s voice was all over this film. The dialogue was clearly his, if you have watched the West Wing or any of his other creations, it is there to a T. He is playing with every type of tool he has exposed to us over his whole career, and it was stupendous. Clearly I am a fan of Mr. Sorkin’s work and many in the audience were also. Its also one of the very few times when I sat through a film with an audience filled with industry folks that was not a film festival or a special screening. All of these folks, including the guy who pointed our his name in the credits and got an applause for it, paid full price.
The film is clearly his interpretation of the book, which, thanks to this film, I am going to now buy and I will also continue to desperately search for the script online until I find it, and will possibly watch the film again. The magic of the film is that it uses many of the elements that Mr. Sorkin has always hinted at in his shows, and screenplays. In many of his interviews he always encourages folks to find their voice. To develop a deep set of skills so that when their opportunity comes to direct, they are able to utilize all in their armamentarium to create the vision that they have about the story they are trying to tell, he followed his own advise and we are all going to be very well treated to a film that is funny, current, strong and the cast for the film is right on point. Idris Alba, Jessica Chastain, Kevin Costner, I could go on, but the best thing is to see the film. Now a word of warning to those that feel strongly that in a film we “need to show and not tell,” this will frustrate you to no end, but if you don’t see it, know that you will miss a story told by a screenwriter who kept the heart of a writer while he Directed a visual story.