Movie Reaction: The Card Counter

Formula: Rounders + Taxi Driver

 

One of the subjective movie questions I can never figure out is when being good at something becomes self-parody. A lot of filmmakers have familiar themes and stories. They build a bag of tricks over years that they can keep coming back to. The point when it becomes self-parody entirely depends on how much you like the thing in question in the first place. I think Chris Nolan continues to explore new stories, but a less generous read would be that he keeps making puzzle-box movie about men with obsessions. Alternatively, I think the only thing Wes Anderson has gotten better at over the years is making Wes Anderson movies. However, his fans will say that he uses his signature style on new story types and characters every time.

 

It's a small sample size, but with Paul Schrader, I land on the unimpressed side. I believe that his work writing Taxi Driver was new and refreshing in 1976. Even by Raging Bull four years later, Scorsese's direction was doing more work to make the film interesting than the script. Same story with The Last Temptation of Christ. As a director, I've only checked in on his recent movies, First Reformed and The Card Counter, so far. It seems that he's still stuck on the same things: protagonists who are disillusioned with the world and fighting demons. I'm probably unfairly harsh on First Reformed because too many podcasts I listen to praised the hell out of it*. The movie still just struck me as Taxi Driver disguised with religious garb. His latest film, The Card Counter, doesn't even make the effort to disguise itself. It's yet another Taxi Driver.

 

*If I have to hear one more person talk about Schrader's "transcendental filmmaking" I'm going to lose it.

 

The pitch of The Card Counter seems to be "what if gamblers had a darkness in them?" which isn't breaking new ground. Oscar Isaac plays William Tell, a former soldier who, after an 8 1/2-year prison stint during which he trained himself how to count cards, travels the country for small gains as a gambler. He's a loner until he runs into two people who each unlock something in him. There's La Linda (Tiffany Haddish), who runs a gambling stable (i.e., she facilitates connecting gamblers with people willing to fund them for bigger events and payouts). William and La Linda share a similar view of the gambling life. They don't really do it because they like it. They do it because they are good at it. He also meets Cirk (Tye Sheridan), a young man who is haunted by the same past that put William in prison. William takes Cirk under his wing, hoping to give him a way out that William could never find for himself.

I won't get into what put William in prison, not because I want to maintain the surprise, but because when I found out what it was, my response was a half-hearted "ehh". Needless to say that it has to do with an awakened darkness and disillusionment with the world.

 

The more I've thought about the movie, the less I like it. Immediately coming out of the theater, I was focused on how good I think Oscar Isaac is in it. Isaac doesn't actually get many lead roles. This one lets him show off. He's both intense and stoic. The character is full of tics and he narrates much of it. He gets the most out of the movie that he can. Tiffany Haddish is badly miscast. I think Haddish is normally pretty great. Between The Kitchen and The Counter, I don't think she can pull off being a boss. Having her buttoned down is a waste; at least at this point in her career. She got a late start, only breaking out 4 years ago with Girls Trip. I respect that she attempts to stretch herself, but this is too much. Her role needed someone stern that lightness breaks through, not the opposite*. Tye Sheridan is OK. His character is more of a prop than a person though. We're asked to buy into an obsession he has, despite his character reading as directionless most of the time. Willem Defoe is the only other notable cast member, and it's a very small part that again is mostly there to represent something for Tell.

 

*It's a shame that Jada Pinkett-Smith and Oscar Isaac aren't the same age, because I think she would've been great for the role. Maybe too much on the stern side though.

 

The Oscar Isaac performance probably makes the movie worth seeing, but the movie is done-in by its insistence on be dark and depressing. Life is shit. Then you die. Schrader already covered that 40 years ago. I don't need to hear it again.

 

Oh, and for a movie called The Card Counter, he she plays poker a lot more than blackjack.

 

Verdict: Weakly Don't Recommend