Tajja (2006)

Tajja: Directed by Dong-hoon Choi. With Cho Seung-woo, Yun-shik Baek, Kim Hye-su, Hae-Jin Yoo. A guy with a talent for cards makes his way into the dangerous world of underground gambling in this crime thriller from South Korea. Go-ni (Jo Seung-woo) is a small-town guy with a big appetite for gambling. Convinced he?s on a hot streak one evening during a card game, Go-ni bets his life savings on a hand of hwatu, only to lose to a crooked cardsharp. Determined to get revenge, Go-ni sets out to find the guy who cheated him and win back his money. But nothing is as it seems down the road.

“The War of Flowers, arguably one of the best Korean motion pictures based on cartoons, is a film about gamblers. The film boldly anatomises and exposes the underworld of gamblers which seems to epitomise our greedy capitalist society. And it is well-timed, given a corruption scandal involving pachinko parlours that has given a big blow to Koreau0026#39;s already beleaguered ruling party.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAs a movie partly comic and partly brutal which deals with working class characters living on the dark side, it outdoes Guy Ritchieu0026#39;s u0026#39;Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrelsu0026#39;. The actors, main and supporting alike, are superb. In particular, Stunning Kim Hye Soo exquisitely plays a Dashiell Hammettish femme fatale who u0026quot;contrives and organisesu0026quot; fraud gamble matches as well as lures easy preys.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDirector-cum-scripter Choi Dong Hun weaves together all these characters and their stories in a seemingly effortless manner, showing his brilliance.”