The Card Counter

A film that comes from silence and returns to it at the end, so when some noise starts roaring in it, it can be really unsettling. What's more, it tells about such dark things that at times I didn't know if I still wanted to know what would happen next. Noir, voiceover, and the gaze of the hundred-year-old eyes of Oscar Isaac is a deadly melancholic combination. (10.02.2022)

The main character finds a penchant for gambling after being wrongfully imprisoned, but is soon joined by a young man with a common enemy, and so begins a quest for revenge. The the two protagonists, played by Oscar Isaac and Tye Sheridan, are digestible, and the story is a simple, if down-to-earth, tale of revenge, but without any violence or action; all of it is driven by gambling. This is perhaps the aspect that disappoints the most, as neither the revenge nor the gambling are fully executed, each part only goes halfway, they don't come together all that much, and together with the budding love story towards the end (which I didn't care for at all), it ends up being a bland, film that isn't really about anything. It's survivable, but I was expecting more action or more immersion in card counting, which in itself is a tempting topic that doesn’t get enough attention in film. A film that is too superficial and doesn’t say anything... (01.11.2021)