Tazza: The High Rollers (Screen Daily Review)

[dleedlee]

http://www.screendaily.com/story.asp?st ... 469&r=true

Tazza: The High Rollers (Tajja)
Dan Fainaru in Pusan 05 November 2006

Dir/scr: Choi Dong-hoon. S Kor. 2006. 139mins.

The undisputed homegrown box-office champion of late in South Korea – where it took some three million admissions in its first fortnight – Tazza: The High Rollers is a gambling caper that races off from the word go and doesn't slow down for the next 139 minutes.

Choi Dong-hoon, whose feature The Big Swindle indicated his interest in the genre, shifts this time from con artists to card sharks, tracing the fast-moving career of a money-hungry young man who loses all his money, then sets out to win it back.

While it offers little insight into the mindset of a gambler, Tazza is nevertheless an old-fashioned action-packed jaunt which may not appeal much to festivals (at Pusan it played in the market) but should travel well elsewhere in Asia and beyond. Certainly Hollywood studios, always chasing potential remake material, are advised to give it serious consideration. An open ending offers the potential for a sequel.

Goni (Cho Seung-woo), a bored shop worker, tries to get rich through card playing with all the passion of a gullible addict but loses everything he has, as well as the alimony of his recently divorced sister.

Soon Goni realises that there is more to cards than luck and begins to learn the ropes. During an illicit game he gets into trouble and is saved by the legendary Mr Pyeong (Baek Yoon-sik), a retired mastermind who Goni takes as his teacher.

Once he is good enough, Goni’s mentor introduces him to Madame Jeong (Kim Hye-soo) whose stunning looks are matched only by her deadly rapacity at card sharking. The pair prove a winning twosome in bed as well as at the gaming tables, where they ruthlessly fleece one victim after another, she drawing them in with her charm, he then taking everything they are foolish enough to wager. But Goni incurs Madam Jeong’s wrath when he falls for Hwaran (Lee Su-gyeong), a bar owner.

Other obstacles for Goni include a shop customer to who he owes money and who has plenty of strong-arm support; and his encounters with the infamous Awgee (Kim Yeon-seok), who takes the right hand of any opponent he defeats.

Tazza has much to pack into its running time and often the details can become confused, for example the presence, disappearance and subsequent re-introduction of Goni's friend Gwang (an over-the-top You Hae-jin). But it all races along breathlessly from one adrenalin-pumped escapade to the next, and audiences are best advised to simply go with the flow and not worry about minor incongruities

Cho Seung-woo has the appeal of a Korean John Cusack; if Kim Hye-soo is too petulant for her own good whenever she pretends to play the dumb beauty, then she more than compensates when she pulls her fangs out.

Cinematographer Choi Young-hwan makes the best of the handsome cast while Shin Min-kyung edits with tremendous efficiency, contributing to the vibrancy.

Production companies/backers
Sidus FNH
Charm Films

International sales
CJ Entertainment

Executive producers
Kim Ju-song
Choi Wan

Producer
Tcha Seung–jae
Mim Mi-hea

Screenplay
Choi Dong-hoon
from the comic book by
Huh Young-man
Kim Se-young

Cinematography
Choi Young-hwan

Editor
Shin Min-kyung

Production design
Yang Hong-sam

Music
Jang Young-gyu

Main cast
Cho Seung-woo
Kim Hye-Soo
Baek Yoon-sik
Yoo Hae-jin
Kim Yun-seok
Lee Su-gyeong
Kim Jeong-ran
Kim Gyeong-ik
Ju Jin-mo
Kim Sang-ho
Kim Eung-su
Baek Do-bin
Seo Dong-su