Movie Review - The Card Counter

Despite the title, this film isn't really about card counting, which is a strategy used against blackjack. If one wants that, then one can watch something like 21 (2008) or even something like Rain Man (1988), which has a scene about card counting. The reason that this film isn't really about card counting is because the titular character doesn't just play blackjack. In fact, the plot of this film revolves around the protagonist participating in the World Series of Poker, or WSOP. Card counting is specifically a thing associated with blackjack, but this film implies that card counting can be associated or applied to other games like poker. It's not really illuminated how card counting would apply to something like poker because unlike blackjack, one can't see the cards of the other players, unless one is playing something like Texas hold 'em. With the exception of the opening scene, a lot of the card playing scenes are done in wide-shot with the camera across the room where the game-play isn't really the focus. Card counting is just a crutch that kicks off the story only to evaporate away for the film's true focus.

Oscar Isaac (Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Ex Machina) stars as William Tell, a gambler who bounces around from casino to casino playing various card games and other table games. He doesn't have a home. He instead lives in a motel. He doesn't stay in the hotels of the casinos where he gambles. He lives in a crappy motel where for some reason he wraps all the furniture in the motel room in a plain white cloth. It's never really explained why he does this. It's a painstaking process of him delicately wrapping all the furniture and even things like the lamps in white cloth. He doesn't seem to be a germophobe. It's just an unexplained ritual he has.

Tye Sheridan (X-Men: Apocalypse and Ready Player One) co-stars as Cirk, the son of a soldier who committed suicide. He blames a former military general for his father's death. He wants revenge against the general and plans to kill him. Cirk decides to approach William with his plan in the hope that he can get William to help carryout the plan. Cirk reveals that not only is he suffering the trauma of his father's death, but he's also suffering from the trauma of the abuse at the hands of that same father. He doesn't seem angry at his father. He knows that his father was a soldier at Abu Ghraib, followed the orders there and got punished for following those orders, while the people giving those orders walked away scot-free. Cirk doesn't think that's fair, so he targets one of those people who gave the orders.

As such, this film, written and directed by Paul Schrader, is an interesting critique of the real-life Abu Ghraib scandal. There are several critiques that one can make of that scandal. The first and foremost is the fact that the soldiers tortured the prisoners. Yes, the soldiers were under orders, but that's not a defense. Yet, the soldiers involved did get punished and served time in prison. The other critique is that the people who gave the orders or approved the orders in the administration never got punished or faced any real consequences, not in terms of having to go to prison or dealing with any legal repercussions. This film definitely picks up on that latter critique.

Willem Dafoe (The Last Temptation of Christ and Platoon) plays John Gordo, a former military major who was in charge at Abu Ghraib and was the one giving the orders, telling his soldiers to torture and abuse the prisoners. However, after the scandal broke, Gordo walked away scot-free. His soldiers went to prison or received court martial, but Gordo faced no consequences and didn't have to deal with any repercussions. He went on to get a very cushy job as a civilian, affording him a lot of money for a nice car and an even nicer house.

Cirk's father was one of the soldiers following Gordo's orders. Cirk's father was traumatized as a result, which ultimately ended in Cirk's father committing suicide. Cirk blames Gordo and wants him dead, so Cirk enlists William to help him. It's clear that William does not want to help Gordo in his revenge plot. William decides to try to put Cirk on a different path, so William gets Cirk to accompany him on what's essentially a gambling tour.

Tiffany Haddish (Girls Trip and Night School) also co-stars as La Linda, a woman who runs a stable. A stable is a group of professional card players or gamblers who get the backing from other people who invest and then get a cut of whatever winnings are made. She recruits William to be in her stable. He refuses at first, but when William meets Cirk, he wants to use that as an opportunity to show him something different, as well as raise money to send Cirk to college so he can better his life. La Linda starts to develop feelings for William, but we really don't get much more about her.

Shrader makes some interesting directing choices. One such choice is the lack of a musical score. His camerawork does a lot to emphasize Isaac's performance. One scene involves a slow push or slow zoom from a wide-shot to a close-up of Isaac's face, as he delivers a powerful monologue that's made even more powerful with that camerawork choice. For the flashbacks to the Abu Ghraib or Abu Ghraib-like scenes, Shrader uses a fisheye lens where the images looks extremely convex. It does a lot to distinguish the horror and surreal nature of what the torture and abuse was.

I'm not sure those choices were enough to engage me completely. Isaac is giving an interesting performance, but Sheridan and Haddish aren't quite at his level. Haddish stands out simply for her general presence, but we're supposed to buy that a romance sparks between them and I don't think the film does enough to convince me of that romance. We're also supposed to buy William's relationship with Cirk being like a mentor or surrogate father or maybe surrogate brother. The relationship doesn't really come through until one scene toward the end where William eventually takes Cirk to his motel room. Other than that, I didn't feel any real development of that relationship.

Rated R for disturbing violence, graphic nudity, language and brief sexuality.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 49 mins.

In theaters.