A hit film in 2006, Tazza: The High Rollers is a quality drama from South Korea. "Tazza" is Korean slang for a gambler, dealing with the card game hwatu - palm sized cards with black backs. It looks like a combination of poker and blackjack -- each player gets a pair of cards, and the highest combination wins. Based on a Korean comic book, director Choi Dong-Hoon (The Big Swindle, yet another clever crime film) delivers a complex, well-paced 2/1/2 hour epic story of Go-Ni (Cho-Seung-Woo), from wannabe player to master hustler, told in flashback by ex-girlfriend and vindictive rival Madame Jung (played by the stunning Kim Hye-Soo, who won an award for her role). Go-Ni starts off as a small time gambler who loses everything to a better player. Realizing that he was swindled out of his family's savings (stolen from his sister), Go-Ni seeks revenge, but knows he has to become a beter player. He meets Pyeong (Baek Yoon-Sik, from Save the Green Planet), a master player, who becomes his teacher. Pyeong shows him the psychology of the game as well as playing the cards. He introduces him to Madame Jeung, who organizes the games, and assists him in hustling the opponents. They also become lovers. Soon, Go-Ni becomes an excellent player, and is seduced by the thrill of play and deceiving the opponents, as well as the financial rewards. That worries Pyeong, who has been there, and tells him not to get addicted. But Madame Jeung's influence over Go-Ni is to strong, and he leaves Pyeong. Pyeong is later killed on a train leaving the city, the murderer unknown. Go-Ni and Madame Jeung become a formidable pair, becoming successful wherever they go, only to be busted by the cops during one session. Madame Jeung is arrested, but Go-Ni, along with another player, One Ear, who actually beats him in a game. One Ear turns out to be, along with Go-Ni, one of the three best players in South Korea, the other being a man called Agwee. Madame Jeung serves time, and becomes bitter at being abandoned by Go-Ni. Time passes, and she is released from prison, and starts anew by seducing a wealthy businessman and setting him up for a big hustle, as he is an enthusiastic card player. She reforms a network of people who enforce her will, all the while pretending to be a demure and sweet girlfriend. Go-Ni, in the meantime, has fallen in love with a woman who runs a local bar/cafe. She is the polar opposite of Madame Jeung, and some one who hates gambling. Go-Ni wins a match against a businessman, who turns out to be a local mob boss, and knows that he had been swindled. He sends his men out for payback, and they find the girlfriend's business and disrupt it, holding her and her friend hostage. Go-Ni, in hiding, strikes a deal with the boss and agrees to work for him if he lets them go. Amid all this, Madame Jeung finds Go-Ni, and with Agwee, sets up a card match which becomes a final showdown for all involved on a ship. Her boyfriend finally becomes aware of what is happening, but loses his shirt, and can only watch as the others battle it out in the ultimate high-stakes game. Agwee stops Go-Ni from winning the match by insisting that he was dealing from the bottom of the deck, and that the card drawn was to favor Madame Jeung's hand with a matching pair. They each bet their hands -- Go-Ni insists that he did not cheat. Madame Jeung has her enforcer, the assassin who murdered Pyeong on orders from her, to tie their right hands up and to chop off the hand of the loser. Agwee is stunned to find out that Go-Ni was telling the truth, and loses his hand. Go-Ni beats up the assassin, and sets fire to the huge pile of money, to Madame Jeung's astonishment. He leaves as the cops arrive, the ship in flames.One of the best Korean dramas in a long time, Tazza is a well told, beautifully photographed noir-like tale that grabs the viewer from start to finish. The acting is excellent and the direction tight and well paced. Kim Hye-Soo is outstanding as the seductive and cold blooded Madame Jeung; a femme fatale for the ages, slinking across the screen in form fitting and low cut outfits, oozing sexuality and yet the deadliest woman one could come across. Cho-Seung-Woo as Go-Ni does a fine job as well. Highly recommended!
