The Card Counter

Whilst the final act is engaging, the journey to get there is slow, at times to the point of tedium. The story takes us from casino to casino, never truly giving a sense of where we'll end up, not really giving us a reason to care.

The dialogue has moments of humanity, but more often than not it felt heavy-handed, as if the film was written by a first-year film student attempting to prove their genius to their peers. Isaac's performance is good, given his main direction was probably along the lines of "don't give away your emotions, but remember that your past hurts." Sheridan is given very little to work with in terms of bringing his character to life, although one scene in particular allows his character a moment of relatability. Haddish brought the most lively performance of the main cast, but her characterization is probably the weakest. Defoe isn't on the screen long enough that his performance would pull the film one way or another.

I'm firmly on the fence about the visual style of the film. There are times where the angles used in conversation highlight the fact that you're hearing dialogue written for a movie, and not experiencing a conversation between people. Additionally, there are many shots that linger for what feels like an eternity, without the emotional weight or stunning beauty that usually demands that kind of visual style, leaving you wondering when the film will be allowed to resume. This includes some of the transitions between scenes.

Finally, the audio in this film has some strange moments, including phasing between mics, varying levels in the dialogue within a scene (if often sounds like switching between two mic positions or different takes), or ADR that doesn't quite match what you're seeing on the screen.

All told, The Card Counter sets out to tell a story of redemption and reckoning with your past. It manages to do so, but isn't particularly compelling along the way.

"I never imagined myself as someone suited to incarceration." William Tell (Oscar Isaac)

Having written Taxi Driver and directed First reformed, Paul Schrader knows something about deeply-troubled souls, especially haunted taxi drivers and small-town cops. Now add card counting loner.

In The Card Counter, former army interrogator Bill has turned card champion while relishing his 8 ½ years in Fort Leavenworth for, it would seem, brutality at Abu Ghraib as a grunt guard. "Relished" because of the control prison afforded him, where he learned his card-playing trade. Nothing has helped him, however, to expiate his sins and redeem himself until he meets young Cirk (Tye Sheridan) and La Linda (Tiffany Haddish).

Experience the most accomplished cinematic anti-hero of the year-Bill roams the landscape of mid-west casinos, forgettable and banal, peopled by losers and wannabes looking for a romantic hit, even as the house controls their fortunes like a wizard pulling the strings of fate and laughing at his victims' impotence. Except for always-in-control Bill, whose days of interrogation control, taught to him by a sadistic major Gordo (mustachioed Willem Dafoe, inscrutably eccentric and scary), and who bets small and wins small to avoid being ejected for what he is, an accomplished card counter haunted by the ghosts of his tortured and torturing past.

The exposition is slow, more distributed than immediate disclosure. This pace lets the audience sink into Bill's world of gambling and isolation as he reveals in voiceover his thoughts about the lives he ruined and the officers like the major who escaped punishment. While Isaac steadily plays Bill with a smoldering intensity, the future begins to loom large while he and Cirk plan a reconciliation for Cirk and his mother, a consummation with La Linda, and a Dantean end for the major. In the first lies the seeds of Bill's redemption while in the last lies the revengeful legacy of an Abu Ghraib that just won't go away.

Shrader's shots are either long, to establish the emptiness of the casinos, or rapidly roaming to heighten the horror of scary Abu Ghraib, frequently tracking the anti-hero in his measured quest to control and win. As a knight errant, he meets his lady in La Linda, whose place in this man's world as a master of a stable of players is never fully realized, so obsessed is Schrader with his saturnine sociopath. In that regard, Isaac gives one of the year's most nuanced performances in the tradition of the lost but deadly Travis Bickel in Taxi Driver. Isaac is one of his generation's best actors, like Tom Hardy, whom you might forget except for the memorable characters he plays like William Tell. And Schrader does tell as powerfully as he ever did.

Just don't expect to learn how to play better poker, for The Card Counter is all about people-if you're good at the game, it's because you can look past the cards into the soul of your opponent. Paul Schrader is just such a soul-searching writer/director. BTW-Martin Scorsese is a producer and presents the opening title card--no surprise there.

Too depressing without getting anywhere. Using music and all the scenes to create the dark and ruthless vibe, without actually letting the emotions to go places. 95% of the time it's too plain for my taste. It does discuss some deeper issue, like torturing, interrogating, revenge, PTSD, etc. It has a real tragic ending. Not a bad movie, not far from being good. Just the plot way too empty.

Paul Schrader's new film is, to no surprise, another dark and meditative character study that seeks to analyze complex questions relating to vengeance and morality. Oscar Isaac gives a strong leading performance in the film, and his lead role was the primary reason I was interested in seeing this. I wasn't sure whether this would be that distinct and authentic a film or a more generic one, but the very strong reviews out of Venice convinced me to see it. The film's performances are generally strong and its aesthetics are potent, but its narrative doesn't hold up quite as well as one would hope.

The film's plot centers on William Tell (Isaac,) a former military interrogator who served 8.5 years in a military prison. He has an obsessive interest in poker, and plays in various tournaments while aspiring to go to the World Series of Poker. After crossing paths with a financially troubled young man (Tye Sheridan,) a plot of revenge on a former commanding officer at Abu Grahib (Williem Dafoe) comes into formation. Isaac's character acting is disciplined and methodical, while clearly conveying the character's emotional torments, erratic tendencies, and interpersonal challenges. Tye Sheridan's performance is strong and thorough as well, and does a good job articulating a genuine sense of grit. Tiffany Haddish plays a friend of Tell who often accompanies him to various poker tournaments, but her character is unfortunately not as well-utilized within the story as she could be. I love Williem Dafoe as an actor, but unfortunately he is underutilized here as well. The film's aesthetics are characteristic of Schrader and, to a lesser degree, Scorsese (who produced the movie,) but that makes them no less strong--color contrasts, rock music, wide shots in both scale and scope, and an overarching sense of grittiness. Despite these strong qualities, the film's plot unfortunately ends up becoming more predictable and uneven as it goes on, and ends up muddling its worldview and messages on morality--or the severe lack of it. The character development in the film is not always especially interesting or authentic compared to other Schrader films. Yet the acting here makes the film a decent examination of a troubled man's past and present that spans from its opening to the very powerful final shot. 7/10.

William Tell is a gambler and former serviceman released from prison who sets out to reform a young man seeking help to execute a plan for revenge on a military colonel.

Writer/director Paul Schrader offers a immersive arthouse, character driven drama. It avoids all the glitzy settings, putting the underbelly of gambling on display from the point of view of a flawed, troubled, gifted card-counter with no abode on display.

Oscar Isaac delivers a multilayered method acting performance and commands the screen. Tiffany Haddish does a great turn at acting. Notable is edgy Tye Sheridan. Willem Dafoe screen time is limited but impactful and essential. Robert Levon Been music is completely fitting, like the on location feel adding atmosphere and credence.

Isaac's voice over is utilised well and welcomed like Schrader's haunting telling dream sequences. It's not mainstream viewing and this may be a godsend for some in a flooded market of mediocre, it's not the greatest film ever made but it's gripping and well made in its own right.

Overall, its grim, compelling and has a lot to say about the society, the military and revenge without spoon feeding it to the viewer.