I just finished watching this one and I can tell you this will be a polarizing film if there ever was one.
The new film from Paul Schrader starring Oscar Isaac, Tiffany Haddish, Tye Sheridan and Willem Dafoe. I know the name Scrader but couldn't place it for some strange reason and then the co-producer of Martin Scorsese pops up in the opening credits. Of course, he wrote Taxi Driver and recently directed First Reformed among a huge resume of writing and directing duties over a long career.
The first aspect that caught me off guard was the theatrical poster. What a shame with the floating head of Oscar Isaac. Never judge a movie by its poster but you're trying to sell me a film to watch, use some creativity. Put a playing card on there at least. I honestly thought this was an early 2000s movie with this type of artwork.
We begin our tale with narration, our protagonist, William Tell. Cuts between casino floor and a military prison while some backstory is explained to the audience. An explanation about routine and how prison was where he learned how to count cards.
The entire counting cards routine is shown in one of the countless casinos he now navigates in his new life. His debt has been paid and he's a free man. William notices the gaze of the dealer shift over his shoulder during play. A quick glance behind him and the pit boss is approaching. Time to go as he says his swift goodbye to the other players at the table. The pit boss nods to him as he passes by and starts to cash out. He's knows the score and leaves with $750 in his pocket.
We learn a lot about who William Tell is as a person and a gambler. Quiet, reserved and unassuming. A gambler who doesn't want to draw attention to himself. You are treating this like a job, in and out without issue. Make some money and be on your way. This is how you survive without drawing attention and when you attract attention be smart enough to leave without incident. This is how the game plays after years of doing this.
He checks into a nearby hotel with further non-verbal character development. Show don't tell.
William begins by removing the pictures on the wall, the telephone and the clock radio. He opens his suitcase to reveal bed sheets, shoes, a toiletry kit and twine. I quickly think to myself that's smart. Bringing your own sheets as who knows what's the state of the linen in these rooms.
Mr. Tell proceeds to cover all objects in his room with the sheets and tie them tightly with the twine. At first I was thinking he was a germaphobe or he perhaps didn't want to leave a trace behind. Logically speaking you'll still leave lots of trace evidence regardless of whatever you do.
So why is he doing this? The film never explicitly states why he performs this behavior. My own personal opinion is that after 8 years in prison he has become accustomed to the blandness of everything. A small room with a uniform look is comforting and this works well with his idea of routine. He does this with each room he's in since he's left prison.
At one of the casinos he runs into a woman, La Linda. She's the face of a group that stakes gamblers. She'll front the cash to get you started from her investors and her gamblers pay back their debt. William knows all about this game. Digging yourself deeper and deeper in debt. You may win those big tournaments but the bulk of the winnings go back to cover all your losses. He's initially very apprehensive and with good reason. He does change his mind later.
On happenstance, he sees a security conference and one of the speakers at the conference catches his eye. He sits in the audience and listens for awhile. Tell knows this man but we don't know how. Upon leaving he's stopped by a young man who asks if him "Do you remember him?" and passes William his phone number.
William eventually contacts the mysterious man after a disturbing nightmare that we've all seen at some point. The man, Cirk informs William Tell of his true identity.
This is no spoiler but William Tell is William Tillich, one of the soldiers convicted at Abu Ghraib. Only the people in the photos were convicted, their superiors and everyone else didn't pay the price he did. The speaker at the conference is Major John Gordo who was helping run this show at Abu Ghraib. Cirk's father was a soldier there, returned home horribly broken and eventually committed suicide.
Cirk is out for revenge. He has been thinking about nothing but a plan to kill the retired Major. He knows William Tell aka William Tillich has his own grudge with the Major.
What will happen next? Does Tell/Tillich accept his offer? Can redemption be had by William? Does he win big? You'll need the watch the film to figure this out.
The flashbacks of Abu Ghraib are disturbing and surreal. Shot in a fisheye view with a sonic assault on the ears with heavy metal music and all the disturbing visuals of what happened there.
Oscar Isaac shines here. A subdued role with great expression in his overall portrayal of a damaged man trying to seek redemption if that's possible. These are the type of roles I love seeing him in where he's given great dialogue and an even better flawed character to explore.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I think this will have a huge gap between scores. To Rotten Tomatoes we go. 87% critic score and 42% audience score. That is one big gap. For me I will give this a 75% and it was very enjoyable. I can see others finding this boring and not appealing for the masses. You will find a great film if you take the time here and it's worth the watch. I feel some Oscar love coming in some form with this film and works great with an actor named Oscar Issac.
All images provided by themoviedb.org, thank you.
After the holidays are over I'll be playing catch up on movies and will check out this one!🃏♦️🃏
You'll need to get through those Christmas films first. I haven't started yet. Happy holidays.
I really liked this movie, the story of William is excellent, a person who must create a series of rules to keep his mind busy although that is something impossible to do and even more so when nothing that happens in his life is normal.
Unpredictable story, sad, I think it is very well filmed and acted even though some scenes are a little tedious, but I don't know why I have the feeling that the director wanted them to be like that.
Very good review.
You're so right about unpredictable. I was not expecting some of the routes this film took. Great point taken about the tedious portions, this is where I think it lost many people. Oscar Isaac made this something special for me.
I appreciate the visit and your thoughts on this one.
Hmm it might be interesting. I am sold on the card counting, not sure about the rest though.
Of course if you are interested in the subject the book "Bringing Down the House" with the math whizes from MIT was good. The movie 21 was based on it...
Oooooh yes. 21 I have seen it and another production of this story too.
I understand the apprehension about the other part of the movie. I was not expecting this either but it does make an interesting commentary on what happened during this piece of history.
Thanks for the trailer it refreshed by memory.
Merry pre-Christmas to you, I don't think I had the chance to send it out yet 🙂
Thank you! I have not done the Merry pre-Christmasing yet as it seems one ends up saying it over and over and over to the same folks before it gets here LOL 🤣 I am glad you gave Hive a go! 😃
It'll be fun to see what Christmas is like here. Thanks as always for the help throughout this journey. I have a feeling we'll be seeing lots of festive things haha 🎅🎄❄
lol
I haven't seen this movie yet, I considered seeing it a few days ago, but I haven't had time, the plot and Oscar Isaac caught my attention, but until now I didn't know it was a Paul Schrader movie, I've seen a couple of his films. Good review.
Haha I know. Those cheap photoshop jobs make me crazy. Certainly a recommended film by me, thanks for the visit.
I saw this film some time ago and it was entertaining with a very intriguing plot although I was expecting a different type of movie... The decision in the final table by the main character was hard to predict but it was understandable given all the fucked up things he was forced to do in the past.
I think most were expecting something different as you mentioned. I had no clue and went in blind while absorbing the ambiance of this tale. I'm still thinking about the main character and his troubles. I appreciate in the input, this film makes me think and that's the best outcome in my opinion.
I have this movie on my list. I hope to see it over the weekend. I can't give my opinion as I haven't seen it, I just hope it lives up to my expectations.
Well worth the watch and I look forward to your opinions or review at some point. Thanks for the visit.
Very good review of this film by one of the great American filmmakers (directors and screenwriters). You manage to create an interest in this work with your text and references. Thank you and best regards, @buffalobison.
Thank you very much for your kind remarks. I'm glad to hear you found it interesting.
This sounds like something I should check out.
Are you a card shark that I don't know about yet?
No, I just like those casino shows 😎
Yay! 🤗
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