Animal World

Zheng Kaisi, already in debt, is saddled by a friend with a sum he cannot pay, and his creditors make him an offer: join a card game held on a ship in international waters and the debt is cleared if he wins. The game is built on rock paper scissors but the rules turn into a mathematical trap. Han Yan adapted Nobuyuki Fukumoto's manga Kaiji. What is interesting is the state Kaisi enters under pressure: he sees himself as a hero in a clown costume, and those passages are shot as full action sequences. Li Yifeng leads and Michael Douglas plays the man running the game. It was a large box office success in China. Who it is for: viewers who like gambling and strategy stories and manga adaptations. Who it is not for: anyone wanting closure, since the film ends open.