The Card Counter

Featuring an intense and riveting performance by Oscar Isaac, The Card Counter was a slow-burn sorta-crime drama that used the guise of gambling and card counting to tell a Paul Schrader-esque morality tale of redemption and guilt. However, beneath its constant shroud of moral self-flagellation laid a sliver of hope. 

Tiffany Haddish and Tye Sheridan turned in arresting supporting roles, both tugging to bring that glimmer of hope to the surface. In particular, Isaac and Haddish's chemistry was natural and easy (perhaps not as electrifying as his with Jessica Chastain's in Scenes From a Marriage) which was a good counterpoint to the heaviness within Isaac's character. 

Sheridan, on the other hand, remained a cipher throughout much of the film and the deliberate greyness of his relationship with Isaac helped the film from being too clearcut and straightforward.

Isaac remained mesmerising throughout the film and Schrader smartly allowed the camera to linger on his visage for long takes as he shifts through different emotions in a scene. The way Isaac sagged his shoulders, slouched over, the hollowness of his eyes and distant staring all served to emphasised that this was a fellow weighed down with an immeasurable amount of pain and guilt. 

This was a character driven film, but what made it so engrossing, other than Isaac's performance, was Schrader's screenplay. Although we were exploring the inner turmoil of this man and slowly unpeeling his layers, through his interactions with others, we always had a sense of something worse is going to happen. But yet, Schrader, the director and writer, always teased us that perhaps it would not come to pass mand we may be in for a happy ending. That elusive hope always just peeking through the grey and hinting at the possibility of peace. 

Although, perhaps, we may not necessarily have needed so much voice-overs.

Nonetheless, in this way, despite its nearly two-hours runtime, The Card Counter was an engaging film as we unhurriedly moved along to the film's eventual inevitable conclusion. The film may likely make a few critics best-of-the-year lists, but for the Oscars, it most likely is a long shot for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Original Screenplay nominations.