Du shen (1989)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Jing Wong

Writer:

Jing Wong (writer)

Release Date:

14 December 1989 (Hong Kong)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

A master gambler loses his memory, and is befriended by a street hustler who discovers his supernatural gambling abilities.

Plot Keywords:

Gambler | Gambling | Cult Favorite | Gambling Syndicate | Chocolate

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Yun-Fat Chow	...	Ko Chun / 'The God of Gamblers' (as Chow Yun Fat)
Andy Lau	...	Michael Chan / Little Knife / Dagger
Joey Wang	...	Jane
Fong Lung	...	Ko Yee (as Lung Fong)
Fui-On Shing	...	Kau
Charles Heung	...	Lung Wu / 'Dragon'
Sharla Cheung	...	Janet (as Man Cheung)
Man Tat Ng	...	Brother Shing
Hon Lam Bau	...	Chan Kam-Shing
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dennis Chan	...	Doctor
Lap Ban Chan	...	Knife's grandmother
Michael Chow Man-Kin	...	Casino Manager
Ching-Ho Law	...	Skinny
Michiko Nishiwaki	...	Ko Chun's female Yakuza opponent
Maggie Blue O'Hara	...	Betty (voice: English version)
Yasuyoshi Shikamura
Jing Wong	...	John in Bordello
Ronald Wong	...	Crawl
Sen Wong	...	Jane's Father
Tse Lin Yang	...	Nam (as Chak Lam Yeung)
Shangguang Yu	...	Jane's Mother

Also Known As:

Dao san (Hong Kong: Cantonese title)
God of Gamblers (Hong Kong: English title)

Runtime:

126 min

Country:

Hong Kong

Language:

Cantonese | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:PG | South Korea:15 | UK:18 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | USA:R

Company:

Win's Movie Productions Ltd.

Trivia:

The card game played is 5-card stud poker. It was popular among many high-stakes gamblers in the US from the early 1900s to the early 1960s. While this game is still played privately in the US, it's not played that widely anymore. Also, the Asian & US rules are slightly different.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Yee and Ko Chun are in the hospital, Ko Chun has a large, circular blood stain on his head bandage. But when Knife breaks in, the blood stain is smaller and changes shape.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Pulp Fiction (1994)

Soundtrack:

Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head

Chow Yun Fat's versatility captivates.

Under appreciated as an actor in the west, Chow Yun Fat shows his incredible versatility as a performer in this Hong Kong comedy/drama.

Chow stars as Ko Chun a gifted gambler with an almost supernatural gift for gaming, hence his exalted title. Ko Chun is suave and sophisticated, master of his gaming, monetarily successful and confident in his abilities. This makes him enemies among not only opponents, but as it turns out, his allies.

Having narrowly escaped an assassination attempt, Ko Chun unwittingly walks into a trap set by Knife, a young gambler wannabe who hankers after a big score. Knife meant to teach someone else a lesson by sabotaging a trail near his home,instead, Ko Chun is the victim. Finding the head injured gambler, Knife and his family take him in and nurse him back to health, not realizing who has literally tumbled into their lives.

Ko Chun awakens from his trauma with no memory and regressed to a childlike demeanor. He's an appealing manchild with an insatiable hunger for a particular brand of chocolate (one carry-over from his former life), and as Knife and Co. find out, a talent for gambling. Knife and his crew make good use of their new friend's abilities--becoming upwardly mobile thanks to "Chocolate"--the nickname they bestow upon him, knowing no other.

Chow Yun Fat has never been more endearing and charming as the brain injured "Chocolate". Chow makes believable and incredibly touching this dramatic transformation from genius to idiot savant. Viewers may find themselves wishing to protect Chocolate from a world he no longer understands and which is by turns baffling and inhospitable. Knife and his crew come to love and protect their friend, mortgaging all they have to provide him with a surgery that might restore his sensibilities.

Their Chocolate-aided success brings unwanted attention, which leads to pursuit, kidnapping, ransom and gunplay. Further trauma to poor Chocolate follows which leads to a showdown that highlights the God of Gamblers uncanny ability to win, even when opponents cheat and "friends" betray. While Chow Yun Fat's impressive talent and charisma are at the heart and soul of this film, the supporting players are excellent, especially Andy Lau and Joey Wong.

A must see and a must own for any Chow Yun Fat fan! In DVD versions of this film the subtitle problems noted in other reviews can be overcome by using the zoom feature on the remote. By slightly shrinking the image and adjusting it upward on the screen, the English subtitles will be perfectly visible and readable 99% of the time. Note:The DVD version of the film is edited, with several original scenes cut that track the ascendency of Knife and Co., and one pretty major plot point that would clarify the denouement at the film's end. VCD versions which are unedited can be sometimes found, but the subtitle problem reasserts itself--VCDs cannot be adjusted to compensate for the problem. But for anyone who has seen the DVD and has the general plot and dialogue down, the search for the unedited VCD version is worthwhile.