The Card Counter. 2021. USA. Written and directed by Paul Schrader. With Oscar Isaac, Tiffany Haddish, Tye Sheridan, Willem Dafoe. 111 min.
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Paul Schrader continues his career-long exploration of transgression and redemption (Taxi Driver, Affliction) with another study of a troubled loner—Oscar Isaac, a professional gambler struggling with his past as a military torturer at the Abu Ghraib prison—as he drifts through a contemporary American hellscape of tawdry casinos and anonymous hotel rooms. Despite his best efforts, he finds himself building a network of dependencies, as he acquires an agent (Tiffany Haddish) to steer him through the world of poker tournaments, and takes a young drifter (Tye Sheridan) under his wing, recognizing in the boy the same wounds that steer his life. As always with Schrader, the influence of Robert Bresson’s Pickpocket is strong, as the protagonist gropes his way toward freedom and understanding. Courtesy Focus Features