The Card Counter

• Drama
• Thriller
• Crime

: A haunting and deliberately paced crime thriller, *The Card Counter* explores the pall of long-held guilt through the unlikely mentorship of a detached, professional gambler and a volatile young man fueled by vengeance. The film eschews the typical adrenaline of the heist or revenge genres, instead offering a somber, almost meditative examination of trauma – specifically the insidious and enduring effects of torture and military injustice. Oscar Isaac portrays a man attempting austere self-punishment via gambling, a carefully constructed detachment fractured by a need for calculated connection and a subtle, surprising devotion. This is not a story of triumphant resolution, but of a haunted existence finding fleeting solace in shared darkness, even as escalating risks pull both characters towards an inevitable, and disturbingly ambiguous, reckoning.