croupier

this is one of the first movies to put clive owen on the map. its not a big movie, in fact its scale is very very small. it follows owen, a struggling writer, as he gets a job at a small casino in england as an operator of a roulette wheel. there are many rules for working in a casino, the film shows us, they must not fraternize with the customers or fellow workers, they must keep to themselves, they must be trustworthy. all of these things seem to fit the loner perfectly. or at least thats the way it seems at first. owen meets a customer who makes an impression and when he stumbles into her while out on a day off she strikes up a conversation which quickly leads to a relationship. this is not on accident. turns out she wants him to break his trustworthy code and play an important role in a planned casino heist. could this turn into a story for a book? his decision to find out takes him on a path he would have never thought that he would go on and leads him to make some bold choices in his life.

the film is very interesting as it is narrated by owen and we get to hear his inner monologue. he shares with the audience the structure and rules of the casino and his own life, but then talks of wanting to be a character in his own book and making decisions that he wouldnt make, but that his character might.