The Card Counter
Oscar Isaac, Willem Dafoe, Tiffany Haddish and Tye Sheridan star in this revenge-soaked thriller from Oscar-nominated writer-director Paul Schrader (First Reformed).
William Tell (Isaac) just wants to play cards. His spartan existence on the casino trail is shattered when he is approached by Cirk (Sheridan), a vulnerable and angry young man seeking help to execute his plan for revenge on a military colonel. Tell sees a chance at redemption through his relationship with Cirk. But keeping Cirk on the straight-and-narrow proves impossible, dragging Tell back into the darkness of his past.
Less2021Rating: MA15+, Strong themes and violence111 minsUK, USAFocus Features
ActionDramaThriller
The Card Counter | Reviews
The Guardian
Schrader has carpentered a strong and vehement film, hypnotically watchable and squalid...
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Hollywood Reporter
Even with (a) hint of midsection story slackness, this is still a highly controlled piece of filmmaking with an unerring command of tone.
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The New York Times
Schrader seems altogether at ease in The Card Counter, and has found an ideal conduit in the protean, velvet-voiced Isaac...
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RogerEbert.com
So this is a movie that, of course, is about much more than poker. More to the point, it’s not really about poker at all.
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Slant Magazine
The Card Counter is... frustrating, personal, and intensely moving for its stubbornness... Schrader is still an admirably risky and furious artist.
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Paste
The one-note familiarity of The Card Counter ends up undermining rather than reinforcing everything we love about (Schrader's) work...
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San Francisco Chronicle
Schrader is in one of those late-career grooves that you always like to see from a veteran filmmaker who has something to say.
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The Globe and Mail
As in life, the grotesque and the beautiful exist concurrently and are each given fair weight.
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Boston Globe
Yes, life is a prison, life is a casino. It is not, however, a movie, or at least not The Card Counter.
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Empire Magazine
The Card Counter's pacing won't be for everyone, but Schrader fans will be all-in on this gripping portrait of lament.
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IGN
Paul Schrader pulls a bait-and-switch, delivering a navel-gazing drag that treats a real-life atrocity as provocative production design.
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