Monday, July 09, 2007

Fantasia News

I saw a movie called Tazza: The High Rollers (aka War of Flowers) yesterday.

Asian gambling movies are a fave genre of mine, and I enjoyed this one. They were playing some card game called hwatu, which was completely incomprehensible to me. As long as they kept flinging down their winning pairs and triumphantly shouting "I win", it doesn't really matter to me what the game is.

It was a bit bloody at times. When a gambler loses a hand in this movie, he literally loses a hand.

Like all Korean movies, it ran about 25 minutes too long. When are Korean film-makers going to clue in that longer is not necessarily better. There was a great 95-minute movie trapped inside this 139-minute epic.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

YOu will doubtless be first in line for the upcoming SPANISH TRAIN: THE MOTION PICTURE. I hear there is a twist ending - the devil CHEATS to win more souls.

Nanuk of the North, older but no wiser said...

Laugh if you must, but I'd see it if it was made in Hong Kong.

If only the devil played dice...

cityofmushrooms said...

death to spanish train filled w/ladies in red