Paul Schrader, script writer for Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, returns with a new self-directed story. Can he even electrify us with his story?
William Tell (Oscar Isaac) leads a schematic, orderly life and is comfortable with it. He doesn't like crowds and people who can recognize him. He tries to live outside the system. He always pays with cash, which he wins at casinos by playing blackjack or poker. During his eight years in prison, he learned to count cards. He has also figured out a casino system that he says doesn't mind people like him if they don't win too much. That's why William only takes enough money to pay for the hotel, gas, and small expenses. Everything changes when he meets Cirk via "C" (Tye Sheridan). Chłpak searches for the former charges of Major John Gordon (Willem Dafoe), who is responsible for torturing prisoners of war at military bases around the world. When the case of illegally detained foreign civilians came to light, only the soldiers, not their superiors like Gordon, suffered the consequences. Cirk wants the harm that caused his father to commit suicide to be rectified. And it's an eye for an eye. William decides to help the boy to his feet, which is also to help him work through some problems.
Paul Schrader, the writer of such hits by Martin Scorsese as Taxi Driver or Raging Bull, this time he stands behind the camera himself to present the viewers another story of his own authorship. And I must admit that it does it perfectly. Using the example of a compulsive gambler, he shows what the life of a man who has been forgiven by society for all his mistakes, but is not yet able to do so. She is constantly convinced that the wrongs done in the past are still relevant. William lacks purpose in life. He tries to survive each day, not allowing himself a bit of luck. While he was in prison, he got used to the routine and took it as part of his penance. After he left the prison walls, gambling became his everyday life. Every day he visits a different casino and performs the same activities, lives in similar hotels, where he eliminates all signs of luxury - he wraps the furniture in white linen to keep prison sterility. It can be said that he physically left his cell a long time ago, but mentally he is still in it.
The Card Counter perfectly combines drama and thriller, keeping the viewer in constant suspense. The director and scriptwriter does not suggest to us which way the story will go. William is a very conservative and substantive person, but you can see that with every day he spends with Cirk, it starts to break down. He treats the boy as a chance to redeem old wines. It allows you to enjoy life. To see its beauty again.
Oscar Isaac is a great actor, to whom the year 2021 undoubtedly belongs - this performance only confirms this belief. Tell, played by him, is a character that engages the viewer's attention very much. We want to cheer him on and we really care about his fate. Interestingly, at no time are we able to predict what he will do. Tye Sheridan is also doing great as a young, lost boy who slowly begins to follow William's path, and this man frightens the man.
The performance of Tiffany Haddish is also a big surprise, so far we could see it in a more comedic entourage, and here it shows that she has many acting skills. La Linda, the poker tournament manager, brings some much needed slack and class to the story, played by her. Thanks to it, we discover the human face of Tell.
Paul Schrader had been looking forward to doing this project for a long time, but he did not have adequate support until Martin Scorsese reached out to him from a friendly producer's hand. It paid off. The Card Counter is an interesting, dark cinema about human fears and demons that we create in our own minds. Contrary to appearances, each of us is a gambler, only betting something else. Some go to the casino, others try their hand at love roulette, still others put everything on one card and quit their job to focus on some of their passions with no guarantee that they will support them. In short, life is one big gamble. If you believe the director, he put a part of himself on paper, but he did not want to reveal at the conference what exactly in his life pushed him on such a dark path that inspired him to this story.
