Overview: Executive produced by Martin Scorsese, Paul Schrader’s (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull) THE CARD COUNTER is told with Schrader’s trademark cinematic intensity.

An ex-military interrogator turned gambler is haunted by the ghosts of his past decisions. Redemption is the long game in this revenge thriller featuring riveting performances from stars Oscar Isaac, Tiffany Haddish, and Tye Sheridan.

Blu-ray Verdict: When we first meet William Tell (Oscar Isaac) we learn that he’s an ex-con who spent his time in the slammer learning how to count cards. Tell prowls mostly low rent casinos and plies his trade, ever careful not to draw too much attention to his mathematical edge. He wins most of the time, but never too much.

When he meets a young man along his travels, Cirk (Tye Sheridan), we also learn that Tell and Cirk’s dad are ex-military, and who participated in some of the armed forces’ darkest dealings in the war on terror under the command of Major Gordo (Willem Dafoe).

Feeling a kinship, Tell takes Cirk under his wing. Tell also encounters another card shark, La Linda (Tiffany Haddish), who proposes to him that he joins her in becoming a hired player for some big money guys who will bankroll his playing - for a large cut, but, of course.

Writer-Director Paul Schrader is no stranger to seamy underbelly of society (TAXI DRIVER, HARDCORE). The card tables, bars and hotels and motels are a natural backdrop for his characters and Schrader presents them in all their dank glory - rarely showing much sunlight.

One can almost smell the liquor and inhale the smoke abetted by Alexander Dynan’s cinematography and a highly atmospheric score by Robert Levon Been and Giancarlo Vulcano.

THE CARD COUNTER is also road picture of sorts. The main trio travel from city to city earning money along the way, one grimy dollar at a time.

All throughout his career going back to his first screenplay, THE YAKUZA (co-written with his brother Leonard and Robert Towne), Schrader has been fascinated with characters who are in pursuit of some kind of inner personal journey.

His last movie, FIRST REFORMED, centered on a minister (Ethan Hawke) who’s despair with the world around him leads him on an individual quest to right its wrongs. Tell’s backstory also haunts, and the mostly individual act of blackjack and poker playing feeds his obsessions up to a point.

The movie never glamorizes their pursuit, and it also doesn’t flinch from showing Tell’s flashbacks to his time in war (fair warning). And, for much of the picture that suffices buoyed by Isaacs’ strong if purposely underplayed performance.

It’s therefore surprising that when the picture reaches its climax it’s curiously unmoving. It’s extremely well-directed, suits the character and the story, yet feels unsatisfying. It’s an example of ending which may work on the printed page, but, still feels undernourished when presented on screen.

In closing, THE CARD COUNTER is certainly a strong reflection of Schrader as a filmmaker. It’s well done and acted, if a bit too personal a vision to be entirely transmissible to the cinema. It’s what makes Schrader’s films so compelling to watch, even if one sometimes feels like they are being left outside. This is a Widescreen Presentation (2.40:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs and comes with the Special Feature of:

• A High-Stakes World – Paul Schrader discusses developing his signature characters and how the world of poker provided the perfect metaphor for William Tell’s predicament. Features additional interviews with the film’s stars Oscar Isaac and Tiffany Haddish as well as poker consultant, Joe Stapleton.

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