9/10/21 – R – 1h 52m – Focus Features

Alan: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✩
Michelle: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

William Tell learned a number of useful skills in military prison: keep life simple; maintain a low profile; how to count cards. He uses these skills to survive under the radar playing blackjack in casinos across the country. His past revisits him in the form of a young man teetering on the edge of the abyss. William makes a plan to save the kid.

Alan: This movie is pretty dark. It is about guilt, penance, making amends and revenge. William creates his own prison of sorts in his casino life. For him it is a sort of purgatory where he sleep walks through the same events in different cities every day.

Michelle: Even though the movie has all these deep themes, the story is compelling on the surface. Bill Tell is a successful small time professional gambler. He tells us his story in voice overs as we see his prison time, his casino time and his strange white sheet covered furniture hotel room time. Bill Tell is a strange man with an intriguing past and an interesting vocation. Then Bill meets Cirk with a “C” and takes him in. We learn Bill is a good guy who tries to help a stranger get his life turned around.

Alan: Oscar Isaac gives a great performance as an man using asceticism to escape his demons.

MIchelle: I really enjoyed The Card Counter. The story was subtle and shocking. I didn’t feel like the film was teaching the audience a lesson, however the film was a study in morality and choices. The viewer may chose to learn something or analyze what they think about the morality of torture in the military and what a man does when facing what he did in the name of a job in the military. Or the viewer can just watch the interesting characters in an interesting casino lifestyle.

Alan: I agree. The story was very compelling. However, I had trouble following the connections between some of the characters. I don’t know if that was an intentional choice. I give it four stars.

MIchelle: I haven’t seen any other movies like this. It was intriguing and entertaining to watch. I give it five stars.