Writer-director Paul Shrader's The Card Counter (2021) was the first movie I watched in a movie theater after spending over a year-and-a-half in quarantine during the Covid-19 pandemic. Eight people, including myself, made up the entire audience, and this was everyone's first in-person theater screening in quite some time. Their reaction to the film itself was mixed, with one viewer dismissing it as "over-the-top", referring to the movie's graphic violence and another claiming, "That's Paul Shrader for you." Overall, the film is pretty good. Excellent performances from Oscar Isaac, Tiffany Haddish, and Tye Sheridan, as well as biting social commentary on the United States' military complexes and brutal prison environments, make up for the film's occasionally uneven pacing.
The Card Counter follows gambler and self-taught card counter William Tell (Isaac) as he travels around the country under a low profile gambling in various casinos and staying in local motels after recently being released from serving eight years in military prison for his role in the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse during the Iraq War. However, upon encountering fellow gambler La Linda (Haddish) and a young man named Cirk (Sheridan) who shares connections with a retired Major (played by Willem Dafoe) present during Abu Ghraib, Tell finds himself drifting back towards confronting his past despite his best efforts to go straight.
The three lead performances are all great. Isaac's quiet intensity and nuanced display of guilt and trauma are so riveting that I hope this lands him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. Haddish's performance here is excellent, as she gets to flex her dramatic acting skills, and she has some solid chemistry and interplay with Isaac. Sheridan and his character are slightly underused here as he repeatedly appears, shares screentime with his costars, and disappears, but this is easily one of Sheridan's better performances. Dafoe doesn't have too much screentime in this movie, but he delivers the goods as usual.
The cinematography from Alexander Dynan is excellent, with plenty of overhead shots that use both wide and tight angles, which create plenty of suspense and visual claustrophobia. The themes covered in this movie about the inhumane torture techniques used by the United States at Abu Ghraib make for a challenging but sobering look into the human rights violations committed by the United States during the Iraq War in the name of American freedom. This movie's critical look at the American identity also includes the theme of one's individual freedom being used for propaganda, which is perfectly exemplified by Tell's recurring rival card player, Mr. USA (played by Alexander Babara), a vile man with a nationalist persona who repeatedly chants the phrase, "USA!".
As previously stated, the pacing gets a little wonky at times. Specific sequences in this movie are slow but consistently engaging, while others are simply slow. This inconsistency resulted in an inconsistent viewing experience, which is a bummer given how this was my first time back inside a movie theater. However, there were thankfully more positives than negatives with this film.
As a slow-burn crime thriller, The Card Counter is compelling based on its subject and explored themes. However, what prevents this movie from receiving a perfect score is its pacing, which sometimes left me slightly bored and, other times, on the edge of my seat. Nevertheless, this film is well-acted and well-shot enough for me to recommend it. It's certainly not for everyone, but it is a unique experience nonetheless.
Final Score: 7 out of 10
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