{"id":9255,"date":"2021-09-15T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-15T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=9255"},"modified":"2021-10-20T08:13:42","modified_gmt":"2021-10-20T12:13:42","slug":"weekend-movie-pick-the-card-counter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=9255","title":{"rendered":"Weekend Movie Pick: The Card Counter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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OK, the new movie from writer-director Paul Schrader isn\u2019t for everyone, but you can drastically increase it\u2019s watchability if you shut your eyes during the rather brief flashbacks to the main character\u2019s Iraq War experience (trailer<\/a>). We all know terrible things were done in that faraway war, and this movie is grounded by their longlasting and inter-generational effects on two American soldiers (one already a suicide).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the film, starring a brilliantly low-key Oscar Isaac as William Tell (a pseudonym he\u2019s adopted that has numerous connotations), a modest-stakes card sharp who stays in the game by never betting too much or past the point when his consistent wins might rouse casino security\u2019s suspicions. He\u2019s served time in federal prison and, he says, \u201cthat\u2019s where I learned to count cards.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tell is a loner, traveling from casino to casino. (The film was mostly shot in Biloxi, Mississippi; casinos look pretty much the same inside.) He\u2019s approached by two people\u2014Cirk, pronounced Kirk, a young man (Tye Sheridan) who knows about Tell\u2019s war experience and La Linda (Tiffany Haddish) who helps card players get financial backing for the big tournaments. At first, he turns them both down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cirk wants Tell\u2019s help in assassinating one of the masterminds behind the torture of Iraqis. His target (Willem Dafoe) now runs a lucrative security consulting business. Tell refuses, seeing this quest as a good way for Cirk to ruin his life. He invites the young man to tag along with him in his travels, believing that if he can get enough money together to pay Cirk\u2019s college loan debt and allow him to finish his education, he\u2019ll be diverted from his current destructive path. A little life experience may help too. To acquire sufficient cash, he needs help from La Linda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other gamblers\u2014dressed in the stars and stripes, wearing cowboy hats, and other distinctive garb\u2014contrast with Tell\u2019s shades-of-gray wardrobe. Likewise, the casinos\u2019 garish rainbow of light is the opposite of the stark interiors of Tell\u2019s motel rooms. He removes all the pictures and (in a Christo moment) wraps everything, even the legs of furniture, in a cocoon of white cloth. Is this a belated attempt to make things clean? Nights, Tell is too disciplined to party. He writes in his journal, attempting to explain or even expiate the past, knowing it is impossible. You get his words in voiceover, and while they aren\u2019t memorable, they are essential. To him, and to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a movie about regret in different forms. Cirk\u2019s regret that his father was so damaged and is lost to him and Tell\u2019s that he can\u2019t forgive himself. It\u2019s also a movie about the fragility of hope\u2014the hope the characters have for each other, and the hope all gamblers clutch to their hearts.Rotten Tomatoes<\/a> critics\u2019 rating: 85% ; audiences: 46%. (Put me in that group!)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OK, the new movie from writer-director Paul Schrader isn\u2019t for everyone, but you can drastically increase it\u2019s watchability if you shut your eyes during the rather brief flashbacks to the main character\u2019s Iraq War experience (trailer). We all know terrible … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Weekend Movie Pick: The Card Counter - a moving and memorable film about regret, hope, and the impacts of war on those who must wage it.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[61,366,56,266,57,66,104],"tags":[375,1910],"class_list":["post-9255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-character","category-drama","category-film","category-history","category-movies","category-suspense","category-the-morgue","tag-oscar-isaac","tag-paul-schrader"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2NkiT-2ph","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9255"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9258,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9255\/revisions\/9258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}