sevenhas.blogg.se

Likewise, Madame Jeong’s story is interesting, but is struck with so immense a logic hole in the film’s final twist that the twist doesn’t seem justified and character stops making sense. However, Goni’s arc doesn’t really feel all that complete and there are many loose strands that are unresolved, including his relationship with gambling/cheating, his relationship with his family, his relationship with Pyeong, and his relationship with the coffee shop woman, Hwa-ran ( Lee Soo-kyung), that he later meets.

But with this dedicated character time, we are also treated to character development and the dramatic tension from the choices that Goni has to make, which help give the film more substance as we face competing values and see an actual theme. And unlike Choi’s later film, The Thieves, there are fewer characters to deal with here allowing for deeper characterizations, particularly for Goni and Madame Jeong, although we’re still not looking at more than two dimensions in either case. The film, and I suppose the original comic book, has quite a few good twists and turns, helping to keep it interesting despite occasionally feeling like the story is lumbering due to the film’s lengthy 140 minute runtime. And Goni finds himself torn between the promise he made to the man who taught him everything he knows and the exciting woman who wants him to use those skills for profit. As Goni becomes a skilled cheat under Pyeong, he is introduced to the sexy Madame Jeong ( Kim Hye-soo), herself an accomplished con artist who runs an illegal gambling parlor. Goni, impressed by Pyeong, hounds him until he is made Pyeong’s only disciple, promising to quit once he earns back his family’s lost money. Then the film flashes back to the past as we observe the gambling-obsessed Goni steal and lose all of his family’s money in a high stakes card game, only to discover that he was actually swindled.Īs Goni goes on a hunt for the con artist-gambler, Park Moo-seok ( Kim Sang-ho), who cheated him of his family’s money, Goni encounters Mister Pyeong ( Baek Yoon-shik), a legendary card player (called a “tazza”) who spares him some money. The film begins in media res as ace gambling cheat Kim Goni ( Jo Seung-woo) and his rambling partner, Go Gwang-ryeol ( Yoo Hae-jin), cleverly swindle some men out of their money and escape, searching for the notorious gambler-crime boss Agui ( Kim Yoon-seok). Perhaps part of the draw came from the fact that the film is an adaptation of a popular comic book series, but the strong performances and slick direction probably also helped the film, which stumbles a little in the story and character development department because of adaptation distillation. Building upon the success of his heist film of 2004, The Big Swindle, director Choi Dong-hoon’s Tazza returns to the world of con men and swindlers, but this time delves into a world of card-playing con artists and gamblers. 19 AugAugMovie Review: Tazza: The High Rollers by refresh_daemonĪlthough it would fail to reach the lofty numbers set by The Host in the summer, Tazza: The High Rollers would turn out to be the big film of the fall of 2006.