There’s also very little downtime in the picture: the gambling scenes, which in true Korean style often end in rough-and-tumbles, are restlessly shot in handheld closeup, while the non-gambling interludes, lensed more conventionally in good-looking widescreen, have a noir-ish flavor, with characters endlessly toying with each other. Though it sounds tortuous on paper, and is initially difficult to grasp thanks to being told mostly in flashback, Choi’s script does manage to tie up all its loose ends in the final reels. As all players plan their separate revenge (and Jeong the financial killing of her career), events come to a head during a showdown between Goni and A-gui. Situation gets even more complicated when, back in Seoul, Go-ni - to Madam Jeong’s dismay - becomes involved with pretty Hwa-ran (Lee Su-gyeong), who owns a small bar with her sister, Se-ran (Kim Jeong-ran). When Pyeong is suddenly killed - by party unknown - Go-ni is left to sink or swim. After one look at Go-ni, Jeong decides to “make him mine” and within minutes they’re partners in more than business.īut Go-ni, the kid from the sticks, is now embroiled in a world of professional high rollers, which includes the psychotic A-gui (Kim Yun-seok), who has “unfinished business” with Pyeong, and smooth ganglord Kwak Cheol-yeong (Kim Eung-su), who’s still looking for payback from Go-ni after the latter made a pile from him earlier. He then takes him to Busan to meet the famous Madam Jeong (Kim Hye-su, from “Red Shoes”), a cool-as-a-cucumber “Flower of Gambling” who strips amateur punters of their cash without a second glance. Pyeong recognises in Go-ni the right combo of desperation and ruthlessness, and accepts him as a pupil. He spends six months trying to track down the guy who cheated him, and in the process meets Pyeong Gyeong-jang (Baek Yun-shik), a self-styled “best gambler in the land” who’s now retired. Through-character is 20-something Go-ni (Jo Seung-woo, from Im Kwon-taek’s “Low Life”), who loses all his savings in a game of hwatu, steals his sister’s alimony to try again and loses that as well. These “pros” are all people who coolly bet the bank (and their lives) on the turn of a card, literally and figuratively.

“Tazza” - Korean slang for gamblers at the height of their powers - is based on a popular comicbook and is both more extreme in its characteriztion and populated by a larger cast. Choi’s “Swindle” was a clever caper movie focused on a relatively small number of protags and relying on a bold twist in its third act.

Tazza the high rollers cast