The Card Counter - Movie Review

Critics Score - 6 of 10

General Audience Score - 5 of 10

The man responsible for writing some of cinema's greatest films including Raging Bull and Taxi Driver, Paul Schrader, is still at it, writing and producing film at a high level. His film from a few years ago, First Reformed, should've gotten Ethan Hawke an Oscar Nomination and it's nomination for Best Original Screenplay was incredibly well deserved. The latest from Paul, The Card Counter, just dropped into theaters a few weeks ago and this film is a very interesting dive into the life of a gambler, with surprisingly little about gambling or actual card playing present in the movie. The film is patient and methodical, just like the person the film is tracking with and unfortunately, if you can’t manage to get on that same track, you’ll feel like you’re playing fifty-two card pickup for two hours until The Card Counter is done counting.

SYNOPSIS - Our introduction to the wide world of blackjack begins with a voiceover by William “Tell” Tillick (Oscar Isaac), telling us a little about himself while we watch hands of blackjack being dealt. After a few moments we skip to scenes inside a prison and Tell continues to explain how incarcerated life for him has been something of a tolerable experience, then we’re back to the card table where he tells us how he wins, how he counts cards. But as we follow him back to his hotel and watch him wrapping everything in the room in white sheets, we start to clue in that something isn’t quite right. Tell meets La Linda (Tiffany Haddish), a lady that connects card players with people willing to put up money for them to play, but Tell says he’s not interested. But once Cirk (Tye Sheridan) shows up and asks Tell to help him get revenge on a man that did both his father and Tell dirty, Tell gets La Linda to find him a backer and begins to play tournaments in an effort to help Cirk get his life on track. Interwoven through the first act are brief explanations from Tell on how to have success at different casino gambling ventures. But the film slowly moves into a character drama/road trip of sorts and away from much gambling as it starts to focus on the relationship dynamics between the three main performers and what their stories and motives are.

Once the last card is dealt, we’ve taken a long but usually interesting journey into a man with a dark past and watched his efforts to start over, find peace with himself and right a few wrongs. The tone of the film is pretty dark and it’s complimented by a terrific score which emphasizes sounds similar to exhaling and humans breathing which, although a little creepy, amplified some of the tension the film is aiming to create. The screenplay by Schrader is also a high point, his direction is also precise, the deliberate nature of the film leads to no other conclusion than this is exactly the movie he desired to make. But connecting with this film due to the pacing, subject matter and execution is not a guarantee and this is by no means among the best of his efforts. The two lead performances by Isaac and Sheridan were both excellent, Haddish was also good, but no awards bodies will be handing them statues of some outstanding achievement.

SUMMARY - This is a good movie, maybe very good, but it was not what I was expecting walking in and it’s very possible it could improve in my overall estimation of it upon further watches. But instead of card counting, you need to be prepared for a slow moving, character focused, dialogue driven, intimate film when you head in to take a blackjack lesson from The Card Counter.