The Card Counter (2021)

This post Iraq war gambling morality play came with impossibly high standards for me to hold it up against. The director, Paul Schrader not on;y wrote Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, but his last film, the devastating state of the world address, First Reformed was my film of the year. It doesn't quite live up to those expectations and feels a little unfinished, but it's still one of the years most interesting films, full of quietly powerful moments and anchored by a stunning lead performance from a complex Oscar Isaac.