The Card Counter

Summary

“What they don’t like is people that win and win big.”

Universal Pictures has recently released the new film by Paul Schrader – The Card Counter – on Blu-ray. I was excited to check out the film, partially because it is one of the only studio produced dramas that was filmed during 2020. Paul Schrader is a director and writer that I can always count on to create something that interests me. Not all of his projects are perfectly executed, but he has directed some amazing films in the past (Affliction, The Comfort of Strangers, Auto-Focus, Hardcore, and First Reformed immediately come to mind.) His work varies in themes and filming techniques, but Schrader’s writing always has grit and gravitas that makes it stand apart. This is the same man who wrote Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, which helped director Martin Scorsese establish himself as a dominant force in film. Scorsese served as producer for The Card Counter, which shows the respect he has maintained for Schrader’s work after all these decades. I sat down and checked out the film last night.

After eight years in a military prison, William Tell (Oscar Isaac) is released. In prison he has learned to count cards when playing blackjack. The basic rules are that face cards are -1, low cards are +1, and 7-9 are 0s. The objective is to count every card on the table and bet when the deck is depleted of the low cards. In Biloxi, he visits Alan’s Casino, wins some money, and rents a motel room. He meticulously covers everything up in the hotel room with string and sheets. When he returns to the casino he bumps into another gambler who talks him into going to the Washaw Casino. There he meets La Linda (Tiffany Haddish) who tells him that she has watched him play and knows he is a card counter. She asks William why he always takes in such small amounts given his considerable skill, and he explains that it keeps him off of the radar. She asks if he would like a backer. He seems to take this into consideration. In another casino in Biloxi, William enters a conference room where Major John Gordo (Willem Defoe) discusses a facial recognition technology. William also meets a young man (Tye Sheridan) there who hands him a piece of paper with his name and number. The young man’s name is Cirk Balfort and his dad had also served under Gordo at Abu Ghrab performing advanced interrogation techniques tought by Gordo. When the men in photos were held responsible for their war crimes – including William – Gordo and other superiors were not punished for their roles in the crimes. Cirk’s father’s life had been ruined by the fallout and he wants revenge. William considers Cirk’s ideas while starting to play more aggressively in tournaments with La Linda’s backing.

I am a big fan of Paul Schrader’s work, even some of his lesser films. The Card Counter does not rank as one of my favorite films of the director largely because the pacing feels just slightly off. Some of the exchanges between Oscar Isaac and Tiffany Haddish failed to convince me, but I still found the film largely interesting and enjoyable for the most part. I found the setting of Biloxi, Mississippi a nice setting for the film. I have gambled in Biloxi a few times in my life, and it was nice to see the setting used in a film. Whereas the slower pace of First Reformed helped to highlight the isolated nature of a priest, the slowed down pace of The Card Counter works against the film. Schrader is a devoted fan of filmmakers like Ozu and Bergman, so it is natural that he would develop films that allow some time for characters, but I feel like this approach for this film worked against the tension that the film would have developed easily if it had been edited more tightly. It’s a shame, because I think that for the most part the writing of the film is intriguing and explores some interesting ideas.

The best reason to see the film is Oscar Isaac’s performance. Oscar Isaac is great in the film. Schrader does a wonderful job of focusing attention on loner characters (Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, Reverend Toller in First Reformed) and that requires actors that can shoulder the weight of a whole film. I have been impressed with Oscar Isaac in all of his roles – most notably in A Most Dangerous Year and in Drive – and he is more than up to the task of carrying the film. Willem Defoe shines in his abbreviated but very important role in the film. Defoe has always worked well with Schrader, and it was fun to see them working together again. The rest of the cast is solid, but I can’t say that I felt fully convinced by their performances. I like Tiffany Haddish, but something felt off to me about her performance here. It felt a little wooden. Maybe it was the Covid regulations and difficulties experienced while filming that shook up the performance slightly (they had to shut down for a few months when a minor cast member had Covid,) or maybe the character just felt a little underwritten. Regardless, my enjoyment of Haddish is not diminished by her performance but it hurt the reality of the picture. Tye Sheridan is well cast in the film, but his performance also felt a little bit stiff to me. None of these issues break the film, but the cast does not work together as cohesively as I had hoped.

Overall – the writing of The Card Counter is solid. If the pacing of the film had been tweaked, I think the film would have made more of an impact. The film also may seem just a little bit off because of the filming conditions in which it was made. That said, I appreciate the way that Paul Schrader still finds ways to engage starker aspects of his character’s morality. I am glad that dramatic films are still being made in a post-Covid world and I hope that Schrader continues to find funding for his projects. I will always check them out.

Video

The Card Counter is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.66:1 with an MPEG-4 AVC encode in 1080p. This means that there will be bars on both sides of the picture. While I am not a big fan of this aspect ratio, preferring wider lensed films, I did not find this very distracting. It is interesting how this aspect ratio has had a resurgence in films by Schrader and Wes Anderson which harkens back to older films. Schrader used a similar aspect ratio when he filmed First Reformed to great effect, and I think its implementation on this film helps to focus the attention of the viewer specifically on the characters onscreen without being distracted by the casino atmospheres they inhabit. Considering that the film takes place in casinos which are known for their eye grabbing lights and sounds, Schrader has worked towards muting a lot of the visual and auditory stimuli. Like other digitally shot films, the transfer ports very well to Blu-ray with the director’s visual intent well preserved. While the film can’t match the Bergman-style visuals of First Reformed, the film still has a solid visual approach.

Audio

The DTS-HD MA 5.1 track to the film is for the most part fairly reserved, aside from a few sequences that blare some aggressive music during flashbacks to Abu Ghraib. The film is dialogue based, and like First Reformed it revels in quiet moments. The score by Giancarlo Vulcano and Robert Levon is interesting. At times I found it a little distracting, but I may need to revisit the film in the future to see how I feel about it. The audio presentation capably represents the intended sound design.

Supplements:

• A High-Stakes World – Featurette
• Original Trailer

Overall Scores:

Video – 4.5/5

Audio – 4.5/5

Supplements – 1/5

Overall – 3.5/5

The Card Counter is an interesting film that may strike viewers as somewhat dull due to the pacing. I like slower moving films, but the pace is admittedly slower than I feel it should have been. After the disaster of a year of 2020 for the production of dramatic films, it was nice to see one of the last renegade filmmakers continuing to make films that ask the audience to form their own opinions. I would definitely recommend renting this film before purchasing, because it is not up to the same level in my opinion as his prior film First Reformed. That film was one of my favorite Blu-ray releases of 2018. As long as Schrader continues to write and direct, I will continue to check out his films. The Universal Pictures Blu-ray release features solid technical specs and a brief special feature. Fans of Schrader should check out the film and form their own opinion, as the reviews have been divisive.