Perfectly paced, progressively interesting, but also moderately safe, a bit formulaic. 'The Card Counter' is a decent effort by the veteran filmmaker, but it falls a bit short of delivering to meet the high standards one would expect from someone regarded as a master of his craft. But Schrader's primary trade is writing, and in that, he does an excellent job here. His layered style of writing communicates perfectly the themes of redemption, escapism, and revenge. It's under the elements of directing when Schraders drops the ball a little bit; tropes like character presentation, visionary camera work, and what I didn't like, not even one bit at times, the use of musical composition. The way he edits the film around the music is way too off. It draws your attention away from the narrative. And that is so obvious to notice - it gives the impression that they did that on purpose. It's weird!
'The Card Counter' is a character narrative type of film, so I was hoping to witness a quality performance by the lead. Unfortunately, Issac had other plans. The acting feels dry and robotic. Oscar, much like Schrader, feels very comfortable here throughout. I didn't notice passion nor excitement in any aspect; the production design looked very casual, not very well thought out; the camera, again, nothing special; the performances are average. In short, the film didn't stand out. Even the sex scene was in typical Hollywood fashion: bras on. It feels like they worked on a template with this one, and that is sad. Filmmakers should view the stories as an opportunity for challenging the film medium, but here, I see the opposite. Anyways, I have to praise Schrader's virtuous writing that makes up for most of the things gone wrong here. Paul casts a spell of intrigue and manages to back it up effectively, maintaining it throughout while intensifying it rhythmically as the minutes elapse. 'The Card Counter' it's far from a bad film, but it feels redundant as it doesn't contribute to bringing anything new to the table.
shaban
3 y