Richard Zelniker’s ‘The Vortex’ Rakes in a Dramatic, Compelling Performance from Comedian Billy Gardell

Richard Zelniker’s gambling drama The Vortex is a showcase for comedian Billy Gardell.

Gambling addiction, like any addiction, is a lonely existence.

Against the bouncy, jazzy soundtrack of Richard Zelniker’s film The Vortex, Billy Gardell’s Las Vegas comedian Pete throws quarters into a machine in a dim back room. The camera can’t seem to settle down, anxious and antsy, as people pop in and out of the space, including Jackie (Emily Alabi), an indigenous woman and cleaning employee who thinks he’s going to hit it big.

At only 80 minutes, The Vortex almost feels like a one-act play. Set mostly in this back room, one threat hangs over Pete’s head: He owes a lot of money, and if he doesn’t pay it to Jimmy (Christopher Titus), he’s probably looking at some broken bones (at best). And with every new character who invades his space, the incessant, cobra-like rattle of the slot machine pulses, almost like a heart monitor.

Very few characters break through the noise to draw his attention away from the machine, except for Azita Ghanizada’s Shirin B, his buddy Johnnie’s (Jeremy Luke) wife. In what might be the most affecting scene in the film, Shirin B tells Pete that she and Johnnie are moving out of town.

“So, what are you gonna do Pete?” she says. “Huh? This town is sick. If it isn’t the drinking or the drugs or the phony hyped-up sex, it’s the bullshit. […] So many are living in a pipe dream that if they play a certain machine or hum a certain tune before they place a bet, their lives will miraculously change overnight.”

Gardell and Ghanizada play this scene with real gravitas, and even though we don’t exactly know the state of their relationship, we know it isn’t necessarily, completely platonic.

While audiences have grown used to seeing Gardell in lighter roles, most recently on CBS’s comedy Bob Hearts Abishola, the Pittsburgh native demonstrates a real knack for darker fare. The Vortex might be a gamechanger for him.

The Vortex is now playing in select theaters, including the Lindsay Theater and Cultural Center in Pittsburgh.