Kaiji: The Ultimate Gambler (2009 Japanese Film)

If you think that having debts from loan sharks is the worst case scenario, well think again.

So my week started with a cloggy nose but at least, thanks to God, I'm not sick. So instead of lying down, I busied my lonely afternoon watching another Japanese film.

I've got to say, Japanese never ran out of amazing ideas when it comes to films and entertainment. Whatever genre it is, they keep on entertaining us when they put it to films and I'm very glad that I came across with this film, Kaiji: The Ultimate Gambler.

Plot: (from asianwiki.com)

Kaiji Ito moves to Japan after graduating from high school. Unable to find a job and frustrated with society at large, Kaiji spends his days gambling, vandalizing cars, and drinking booze.Two years later and his life no better, a debt collector named Endo arrives to collect money. The debt collector then offers two choices to Kaiji: spend 10 year paying off your loan or board a gambling boat for one night to repay your debt & possibly make a whole lot more. Meanwhile, the unscrupulous Endo is actually conning Kaiji, believing he won't come back from voyage. Kaiji is then up for the night of his life.

Ok. So this film is another thriller, slash, death game theme starring Tatsuya Fujiwara as the main character Kaiji, and Kenichi Matsuyama as his co-worker. They already co-starred in Death Note and they both acted well. So, technically, it's because of them why I watched this film. But mostly because of Tatsu-kun. :D

Of course, Tatsu-kun's acting is over the top, as always. He's so great in acting as a stupidly naive kind of person, being looked down by all the superior characters in the film who were being so full of themselves. 

If you are a mainstay in my blog, you probably know or at least, have read already that I love Asian films with themes like death games, battle royale, horror, and thriller. To summarize this film up, it's like Battle Royale + Liar Game + Death Note were all cooked together, spiced them all up, and this movie came up as the result, which is a very deliciously cooked concoction. 

This movie has these characters that are also present in the tv series like Liar Game where they are being happy or even aroused when they see other people struggling with fear, being left with many debts, and ended up being dead. Wow. They are being happy with those kinds of stuff? WEIRD. Wasting money to see people crawling on their knees. My favorite part in this kind of genres is when the underdogs are rising up to defeat the people who look down at them. Such a great feeling and I want you all to know that I experienced that same feeling while watching this film, just like what I feel when I watched Liar Game, Battle Royale, and some other films and tv shows.

I'm giving this film 2 thumbs up and I think the only part that I didn't actually like is when the coin fell in the sewer. It's very unrealistic. Well, I'm not actually sure if this film is realistic as well so in that case, that part was very unrealistically unrealistic. It's fiction, anyways, and based on a manga, Tobaku Mokushiroku Kaiji.

Cast: (from )

Tatsuya Fujiwara - Kaiji Ito
Yuki Amami - Rinko Endo  
Taro Yamamoto - Joji Funai
Ken Mitsuishi -  Koji Ishida 
Suzuki Matsuo - Taro Otsuki  
Kenichi Matsuyama - Makoto Sahara  
Kei Sato - Kazutaka Hyoto  
Teruyuki Kagawa - Yukio Tonegawa

Screencaps gallery:

Images sources:

asianwiki.com

P.S.: I would like to show my gratitude to my friend Katrina Maxwell for fixing up the photo gallery. If it wasn't for her, I'm still struggling around the net and damning myself hoping to find other flash photo gallery maker/creator! My blog is now officially upgraded but the loading of the pages will now be slower than ever. :/

--Arjay.

Posted in: 2009,asian,film,Japanese