The Card Counter
William is an excellent gambler who gambles and wins small so as not to attract unwanted attention. He has also served time for being photographed mistreating prisoners at Abu Ghraib - Gordo, who taught them all the tricks of mistreatment, didn't get photographed and is now doing very nicely thank you. William encounters Cirk, a troubled young man whose father shot himself in the aftermath of the Abu Ghraib debacle. Cirk wants revenge against Gordo. La Linda, who manages a stable of gamblers, extends an invitation to William.
Paul Schrader writes and directs this four hander (with extras) and I don't really know what to make of it. Tiffany Haddish is good as La Linda, but almost entirely superfluous. Willen Dafoe as Gordo is pivotal, but not in it much. Most of the meaningful content is between Oscar Isaac's taciturn, dead-eyed William and Tye Sheridan's closed-off and unsympathetic Cirk.
It's a slow burn. There's a lot of poker, but it's not a significant part of the drama. The final 10 minutes or so suddenly becomes gripping, but you may have lost interest before then. It held my interest. Just.
William is an excellent gambler who gambles and wins small so as not to attract unwanted attention. He has also served time for being photographed mistreating prisoners at Abu Ghraib - Gordo, who taught them all the tricks of mistreatment, didn't get photographed and is now doing very nicely thank you. William encounters Cirk, a troubled young man whose father shot himself in the aftermath of the Abu Ghraib debacle. Cirk wants revenge against Gordo. La Linda, who manages a stable of gamblers, extends an invitation to William.
Paul Schrader writes and directs this four hander (with extras) and I don't really know what to make of it. Tiffany Haddish is good as La Linda, but almost entirely superfluous. Willen Dafoe as Gordo is pivotal, but not in it much. Most of the meaningful content is between Oscar Isaac's taciturn, dead-eyed William and Tye Sheridan's closed-off and unsympathetic Cirk.
It's a slow burn. There's a lot of poker, but it's not a significant part of the drama. The final 10 minutes or so suddenly becomes gripping, but you may have lost interest before then. It held my interest. Just.