Score: 3.5 / 5
Paul Schrader will never be accused of being uninteresting, and his latest feature is no disappointment in that regard. In many ways, it's a standard exercise for the veteran writer/director, concerning the soul of an isolated man on the brink and the moral responsibility with which he struggles. But this movie is no visionary work like First Reformed, his last project, and feels more like some of his '90s films in tone and its almost unbearably slow pacing. Moreover, here Schrader plays a dangerous game with his audience, making the movie appear to be very much one thing before pulling the rug out and revealing his true intentions (a la American Gigolo). Despite its title, marketing, and demeanor, this is not a crime noir about poker. It's a cruel take on revenge thrillers.
Oscar Isaac plays William Tell, a man of staunch discipline who plays poker obsessively. While his name is almost certainly not actually William Tell, he knowingly also goes by "Will Tell," the weaknesses he surely exploits in other poker players in order to win. And yet he doesn't seem to win big. He notes more than once that he wins enough to make good money -- he has no job, no family -- but not enough to be on anyone's radar as a shark or celebrity. In fact, he dryly says, "I hate celebrity gambling" even as we're repeatedly shown his apparent adversary, a jingoistic Americanized player whose groupies chant "U.S.A.!" as they follow him to tournaments. Impeccably dressed and coolly removed from social life, we wonder immediately what's wrong with him.
Because Will Tell doesn't say much, we're forced to read him like he reads the cards. He introduces himself to us in voiceover, describing part of his method in a detached, calculated way. Similarly, later, he offers key bits of gambling wisdom to other characters, indicating his wealth of knowledge as much as his determination to hide elements of himself. That's not all he hides. In the privacy of his motel rooms, the only places he lives, he ritually shrouds all the furniture in white sheets, tied with twine; he wants no decoration, no distraction. It feels uncannily like something from American Psycho, but all he does after shrouding the room is sip whiskey and write in his diary in beautiful script. His tortured mind reveals itself when, after a disturbing recognition of a man presenting at a conference, he retires to bed and undergoes a jarring dream sequence. We see some of his history replayed through fisheye lens: he was a US Army torturer in Abu Ghraib.
Through interspersed flashbacks, we learn a little bit more, including his subsequent stint in prison after the horrors of Abu Ghraib ended. Once, he picks a fight with another violent inmate, apparently hoping to be killed. But his death wish isn't ever realized, which makes his obsession with learning to count cards and play poker a little non-sequitur; then again, the movie presents two compelling reasons for Will to persevere: two new friends he meets while doing what he does. The first, La Linda (a skillfully underplayed Tiffany Haddish), runs a "stable" in which investors back gamblers for a percentage and wants to work with Will; the two flirt and fall in love very casually. The second, Cirk (Tye Sheridan) who pronounces it as "Kirk" but spells it with a "C" as he repeats to everyone, approaches Will in the fateful conference as Will leaves. Cirk can tell Will knows the man speaking (Willem Dafoe) and gives him his number; when they meet up later, Cirk reveals that he's the son of a military man who killed himself out of guilt over what happened in Abu Ghraib. Now Cirk wants revenge on the commanding officer (Dafoe's character, evidently).
Will Will foster the angry and awkward young man, training him in a new skill and hope that this sets Cirk on a better path? Will he face his own guilt and adopt the plan for revenge himself? Schrader's method is to put the pieces together and just let them stew in a brooding, slightly surreal journey through the heart of a man we don't really know. The Card Counter won't be remembered as his best, but it adds to Schrader's fascinating list of hard-hitters. Then again, it's more than worth a watch just to see a beautiful Oscar Isaac do his usual amazing work.
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