FOR THE RECORD記錄在案
Two infamous former athletes tell their side of the story in this month’s films. By KEVIN MA兩聲位 名狼藉前的 運動員，在本月電影中細說她們的故事。撰文：馬樂民
Former figure skater Tonya Harding was the first American woman to land a triple axel in competition. But that’s not why she became famous. For the past two decades, her name has been synonymous with a 1994 attack on fellow skater Nancy Kerrigan. The attack was orchestrated by her ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, allegedly without her knowledge; but it got her banned from professional skating for the rest of her life.
Harding and Gillooly had a chance to set the record straight when scriptwriter Steven Rogers interviewed them for biographical film I, Tonya. But when Rogers got conflicting stories from both sides, he decided to embrace the unreliability of his narrators and used a Rashomon- esque narrative that told the story from multiple perspectives.
The result is an unconventional tragicomedy about the physical and mental abuse that shaped Harding into an ambitious athlete who refused to conform. Director Craig Gillespie handles the story’s wild tonal shifts with grace, finding a balance between the seriousness of Harding’s hardships and the comically absurd episodes in her turbulent life.
Margot Robbie’s Oscar-nominated performance portrays Harding as a morally complex, sympathetic character who is unapologetic about her personality flaws.
I, Tonya is a bit murky over Harding’s involvement in the Kerrigan attack, but it does provide a window into the psyche of a controversial figure.
Another former athlete who found notoriety was Molly Bloom in Molly’s Game. After a serious injury ended her skiing career, Bloom moves to Los Angeles, where a personal assistant job led to her hosting high-stakes poker games for entrepreneurs and celebrities. Eventually, one dire mistake lands her in trouble with the FBI.
Aaron Sorkin (who wrote The West Wing and A Few Good Men) offers a semi-fictional account of Bloom’s story with his directorial debut. In the vein of his screenplays for
The Social Network and Steve Jobs, Sorkin is driven by both the whys and the hows of the story. The intricate details about Bloom’s games are interesting, but the reason for her refusal to reveal the names of people who attended her games is the core of the drama.
Apart from a well-edited opening montage that sets the tone of the film, Sorkin isn’t a visually orientated director. Nevertheless, fans of Sorkin’s work will find that his talent for rapid-fire dialogue and his tendency to give characters unrealistic eloquence are once again on full display.
The similarities of Molly’s Game to
I, Tonya go beyond the theme of fallen sports figures. Both Harding and Bloom come out bruised by their experiences, but the films also celebrate their resilience in the face of defeat. To these two women, survival is their version of victory.
前花 式 溜冰運 動 員 Tonya Harding，是國位美 首 在比賽中功成 完成凌空轉體三周半的女選但手， 她並沒有此因 名揚四海，反而因 1994 年其對手 Nancy Kerrigan 的遇襲案而臭名遠。播雖然策劃襲擊的幕後黑手是她的前夫 Jeff Gillooly，但她這卻為 轟動一時的體壇醜聞付上代價，被罰停終生 賽。
事隔多年，劇編 Steven Rogers 為傳記電影《冰之驕女》作資料搜集問，訪 了Harding 和 Gillooly，二人終於有機會出作澄清。Rogers 從她們口中聽到兩個互相矛盾的事故 ，決定水順 推舟，採用羅生門式的敘事手法，從不同角度來講述這個耐人尋味的故事。
這種別特 的敘事手法拍出一部不落俗套的悲喜劇，道出 Harding 在身心飽受折磨情的 況下，被訓練成一位野心勃勃、拒絕墨守成規的運動故員。 事的調子轉變大起大落，但演導 Craig Gillespie 以優雅俐落的手法來處理，在描繪 Harding 經的歷 磨難波折和荒謬絕倫的事件之間妙，巧 地取得平衡。
憑本片獲奧得 斯卡金像獎提名的Margot Robbie，把 Harding 演成繹 一個性格複雜，對自己的缺點毫無愧疚之意，我行我素又惹人同情的人物。《冰之驕女》對於Harding 是否有份參與 Kerrigan 的遇襲案不置可否，但卻打開一扇窗，讓我們窺探這個爭議性人物的內心世界。
Molly Bloom 是另一位聲名狼藉的前運動員，因一次嚴重外意 而結束了滑雪運動員的生涯，移居洛杉磯，改為任職私人助理，再輾轉成為賭注額極高的地下撲克牌局的莊家，專門招待商業大亨與巨名星人，但卻一子錯滿盤皆落索，引來聯邦調查局追窮 猛打。
曾任《白宮群英》和《義海雄風》編劇的 Aaron Sorkin 初次執導，在《莫莉遊戲》中道出 Bloom的傳奇故事。本片的劇本跟Sorkin 執筆的《社交網絡》和《時代教：主喬布斯》的劇本一脈相，承 也是著墨於故事中的前後因 果如何令事件發生；片中詳述Bloom如何設置賭局的細節固然引人入勝，但堅她 拒供出參與賭局者名字的原因，才是故事的核心。
電影開場一段精心剪輯的蒙太奇確立了全片的格調，但 Sorkin 的著眼點向來不是視覺上的花巧，而是連珠炮發的對白，以及角色令人歎為觀止的滔滔雄辯，歡喜Sorkin 這才種 華與風格的影迷絕對不會失望。而回
《莫莉遊戲》與《冰之驕女》的相似之處，不只是講述運動員墮落的故事，而是Harding 和 Bloom 雖然都飽受打擊，但電影同時亦頌揚她們在挫敗中不屈不撓的毅力。對於這兩個奇女子來說，能夠存是生 就她們的勝利之道。