Mahjong

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Audience Score

User Ratings: 224

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Movie Info

The European Upper Crust meets the Taiwan Underworld in this convoluted comic action thriller. Winston Cheng (Chang Kuo-shu) is a prominent businessman who has somehow managed to fall deep into debt to organized crime leaders in Taipai, to the tune of $100 million. When it becomes clear that the gangsters are tired of waiting for their money, Cheng goes underground, just as two mob enforcers (Wu Nein-jen and Wang Po-sen) are sent out to find him. Cheng's son (Tang Tsung-sheng) -- who calls himself Red Fish -- is the leader of a street gang; the gunmen start following Red Fish and his partners in crime -- Hong Kong (Chang Cheng), Lun Lun (Ko Yu-lun), and Little Buddha (Wang Chi-tsan) -- in hopes that the son will lead them to the father. Meanwhile, Marthe (Virginie Ledoyen) has come from France to Taipai in search of Markus (Nick Erickson), her former lover who has relocated from London. Marthe discovers that Markus has a new girlfriend, Alison (Ivy Chen); feeling hurt and rejected, Marthe runs into Lun Lun and the rest of Red Fish's gang at the Hard Rock Cafe, and she spends the night with them. Marthe and Lun Lun soon become romantically involved, which drives a wedge between him and the other members of the gang; meanwhile, Ginger (Diana Dupuis), the operator of an escort service, wants to recruit Marthe to work for her. Red Fish encounters Angela (Carrie Ng), who double-crossed Winston years ago; he sets out to avenge the wrong done to his father, but soon he soon learns that Winston is in more immediate danger than he imagined. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Rating:

NR
Genre:

Comedy, Drama
Directed By:

Edward Yang
In Theaters:

Dec 7, 1996 wide
Runtime:

121 minutes

Cast

Virginie Ledoyen
as Marthe

Chen Chang
as Hong Kong

Nick Erickson
as Markus

Carrie Ng
as Angela

Nien-Jen Wu
as Older Mobster

Chang Kuo-Shu
as Winston Chen

Elaine Jin
as Chen's Wife

Kaizo Hayashi

Ko Yu-lun
as Lun-lun

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Critic Reviews for Mahjong

All Critics (1)

An angry and disjointed comedy on the dark side of urban living in Taipei, where greed becomes the accepted norm in society.

Oct 25, 2014 | Rating: B+ | Full Review…

Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

View All Critic Reviews (1)

Audience Reviews for Mahjong

Nov 12, 2011

Yang envisions Taipei this time as a perfectly spherical onion with all of its layers, the bad smell of crime and insecurity, the tears in the characters, the multiracial collage it forms and the background of each individual finding its course interrupted by the constant interferences of others. We go deeper, towards the onion's core each minute Yang tells us something, like a rare hybrid between I Vitelloni (1953) and Mean Streets (1973), until the cataclysmic finale. 97/100

Edgar C Super Reviewer
Nov 19, 2008

Not necessarily a victorious effort for all the protagonists,the feeling of boredom,reckless rebellion and oh-so comedic attention is what makes us get involved with this mosaic of intertwined events in Taipei.Superb performances from all the cast with Congsheng standing out,Yang is penetrative in the simplicity of the city's natural flow that we almost become part of its heat and bright lights.

Dimitris S Super Reviewer