The Card Counter *** (2021, Oscar Isaac, Tiffany Haddish, Tye Sheridan, Willem Dafoe) – Movie Review

Writer-director Paul Schrader’s 2021 American crime drama film The Card Counter stars Oscar Isaac, Tiffany Haddish, Tye Sheridan, and Willem Dafoe. Martin Scorsese is notable as one of the many executive producers.

It has two enormously high cards in its hand: Oscar Isaac’s stupendous performance as William Tell, a gambler who taught himself how to count cards in his eight years in military prison, and the mesmerising casino and motels atmosphere.

However Tiffany Haddish as La Linda, Tye Sheridan as Cirk Baufort, Willem Dafoe as Major John Gordo are a lot less impressive, though that is probably because their roles are hardly developed beyond cyphers in William Tell’s story. Try as hard as these three do, it’s a one-man show, and luckily Oscar Isaac is up for a tour-de-force, carrying the movie.

La Linda runs a stable, a group of investors who back gamblers for a portion of their winnings, and offers her services to Tell. Retired US army Major John Gordo is giving seminars on security, at one of which Tell encounters Cirk Baufort, who is planning to capture, torture and kill Gordo as revenge for what happened to his family. Cirk’s father was involved with William Tell, aka PFC William Tillich, in the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse and Cirk seeks Tell’s help in killing Gordo.

William Tell’s story is not a very nice one. It’s all about torture and abuse, so there is a real heart of darkness in Schrader’s screenplay. Schrader’s carried away by cards and casinos, like a voyeuristic, virtual gambler. That keeps up the level of interest, but the film feels artificial and contrived, as well as unlikeable. It has high ideas on its mind, and they are fascinating, but they don’t flow naturally off the screen. The heightened realism of the dialogue and plotting, and some of the sequences, sits uncomfortably with the actual realism of the casinos and motels.

Oscar Isaac, on the other hand, makes you believe every word he speaks. He’s got a fascinating character and some tremendous dialogue to work on, and he slips into the character like an expensive sleek leather glove. Isaac oozes chilly charisma here, suddenly turning viperous, occasionally melting briefly, reluctantly. He creates a memorable tragic character.

It had its world premiere at the 78th Venice International Film Festival on 2 September 2021 and was released on 10 September 2021 by Focus Features.

Card counting is a blackjack strategy used to determine whether the player or the dealer has an advantage on the next hand. Tell’s gambling philosophy is to bet small and win modestly.

The main cast are Oscar Isaac as William Tell/ William Tillich, Tiffany Haddish as La Linda, Tye Sheridan as Cirk Baufort, Willem Dafoe as Major John Gordo, Alexander Babara as Mr USA, and  Bobby C King as Slippery Joe.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Movie Review

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