Tazza: The Hidden Card (DVD) (Standard Edition) (Japan Version) DVD Region 2

T.O.P plays Dae Gil, a young man who works himself into a gang of card sharks, impressing them and everyone else in the underworld with his skills and charm. Unfortunately for Dae Gil, his colleagues turn against him, setting him up to take the fall for a failed scheme and leaving him down and out. His life gets even more complicated when he runs into his childhood sweetheart Mina (Shin Se Kyung, Hindsight), who has fallen into the clutches of the evil card master and criminal Jang (Kwak Do Won, The Attorney). Desperate to help, he enlists the aid of his uncle Goni's old friend Ko Kwang Ryeol (Yu Hae Jin, The Pirates), and sets about scheming his way to rescue Mina and get back to the top of the game.

Although technically a sequel, and featuring several returning cast members, Tazza: the Hidden Card works perfectly well as a standalone film, with some handy exposition filling in viewers who missed (or can't remember) the first instalment. While some character details might mean more to Tazza veterans, there's more than enough going on here to make the film equally engaging for newcomers, with a huge amount of scheming and backstabbing packed in, and with double and triple crosses being the order of the day. Though essentially predictable, building towards the usual kind of all-important final card game, the Machiavellian manoeuvring keeps things fresh, if a touch convoluted, and it's fun trying to keep one step ahead of the cast as they out-plot each other. The film moves briskly through its two and a half hour running time and never drags, Kang Hyung Chul navigating the dense narrative with a reasonable level of economy and alacrity. A sharp script and a solid cast of interesting characters helps, and T.O.P and Shin Se Kyung have a respectable amount of chemistry as the lead pairing, enough so to make the film moderately suspenseful, though it's arguably supporting players Yu Hae Jin and Kwak Do Won who have the stand out roles.

What does matter more is a basic knowledge of Korean hwatu card gambling, or at least a vague interest in the subject, as the film is filled with card game set pieces. With very little in the way of explanation or information on the rules, uninitiated viewers will quite possibly feel bewildered at all the flinging around of cards and their many meanings and values, a fact which might well undermine the tension and excitement for some. Thankfully, Kang just as much on the cheating skills of the players, most of the matches revolving around the ability to read and trick the opponent, and the film is very creative on this score, with several games playing out under bizarre and gimmicky conditions.

This is all very entertaining, and Kang shoots the film with dizzying energy and a stylish visual approach that makes sure it looks gorgeous throughout. Of course, this does leave the film open to charges of glamorising its criminal activities, and indeed it does frequently heads into uncomfortable moral territory, with sudden bursts of surprisingly bloody violence and sadism, its female characters in particular coming off badly (many of whom seem to end up being sold into prostitution). Though this makes it an odd mix at times, it does add a welcome hard edge as well as an injection of visceral kick.

Tazza: the Hidden Card is a worthy follow up to The High Rollers, and another enjoyable Korean card film, directed with verve by Kang Hyung Chul. The subject matter does make it rather a niche offering, and while viewers unfamiliar with hwatu should still find plenty to hold the interest, it's certainly one which will go down best with aficionados of the card gambling subgenre.

by James Mudge - EasternKicks.com