Shanghai Triad

This story is told through the eyes of a boy who has just begun working as an underling for a Chinese mobster in the 1930s. It seems the young man is the servant to the mistress of the triad chief and he is treated, at times, more like a slave than a person. The lady is quite beautiful but also seemed very petulant and foolish throughout the film--making it very surprising indeed that this boy bonded so quickly with the lady. Had I been in the boy's place, I probably would have taken the first chance to either poison her or run!

SHANGHAI TRIAD was nominated for the Best Cinematography Oscar and this certainly isn't surprising when you see this film. It's actually pretty rare for a foreign film to get this nomination, but this movie was one of the most artistic films I have seen in ages. The camera-work is great--with the wonderful use of filters, excellent framing techniques and grand colors.

Unfortunately, while the film is very beautiful, the story itself is too often sterile and one of its main characters (played by Gong Li) is just too unlikable--seeming like a complete brat. While the mob boss is quite amoral and vicious, at least you didn't find yourself hating him quite as much--especially since he was a smart guy. Additionally, all too often, events occur off-screen and you only hear about them or catch glimpses of the results--giving the film very little energy. Fortunately, despite being slow, the film does end very well with some interesting twists--but not quite enough to redeem the film. Overall, it's very watchable but with more energy and a more involving story, it could have been so much better.

The big plus here is in the visual department It is gorgeously filmed with deep, rich colors.

The story isn't that much. You keep excepting it to get better. It holds that promise but doesn't deliver until the ending, which has a neat no-nonsense twist. I really liked and admired that ending and wish more movies had realistic finishes like this.

Gong Li, who stars in here, plays a character that is interesting for the first half of the film but her spoiled-brat routine gets annoying after awhile. The main gangster, however, is an interesting guy throughout.

I've watched this twice and, frankly, expected more both times.

First of all, I'm a huge fan of Gong Li.

"Shanghai Triad" one of my favourites out of her movies. 'Favourite' in my definition applies only when I want to watch a film again and again and liking it more everytime I watch it.

"Shanghai Triad" is a beautiful movie, with a clever plot developed within the time frame of a mere seven days. The depth of character also adds to the brilliance of the film. The character of "Xiao Jingbao" (sometimes translated as "Bijou") played by Gong Li at first seems shallow, as she is a chanteuse and moll of a powerful gangster. As her character develops, one recognises that underneath her materialistic values imposed upon her by society, lies a very pure nature. The discovery of the depth of her characterisation is especially moving, and propels towards an emotional climax, during which tragedy arouses sympathy and anguish.

The little boy in the movie is also noted for his excellent performance. He silently dominates the atmosphere of the film, looking on without speech, but secretly and strongly decided in the mind. He acts as the eye through which we see the world in the movie.

Apart from all the technical approval and standardised appraisal of the movie, I have to add I also loved Gong Li's singing in the movie. Yes, it was actually her singing! Her singing is just as beautiful as herself and her performances. Watch her dance and sing elegantly on stage, not one moment has she been not charming in the movie.

On the director's part, this is a very different film from all other previous Zhang Yimou films. But like all his other films, the story is meaningful and the cinematography is breath-taking.

Some more little background facts about the movie: during the making of the film, neither Gong Li nor director Zhang Yimou was in particularly good mood. And that was because, if you know about Gong Li and Zhang Yimou's relationship before, they broke up. Reason? Well, in short, Zhang Yimou's a workaholic, and Gong Li like any other woman, wanted security and family which he was unable to give. And interestingly, and sarcastically (in our point of view), there was a scene in the movie where Gong Li was chatting with the woman peasant. The peasant thought Gong Li was already married, but she said no. With surprise, the peasant said by this age she should be getting married. Gong Li said "Yes, I should be getting married. But do I know who to get married to?"

Of course Gong Li is married now, to a Singaporean business man.

Getting back to the movie, it's just a classic. It's visually absorbing, narratively ingenius, audibly satisfising, emotionally powerful, and just speechlessly amazing. If one can love a movie, I love this movie.

When I first saw Zhang Yimou's wonderful 'Raise the Red Lantern', I missed all but the last 30 minutes. This is the most regretful episode of my life for the film has now been deleted. My life was honestly changed as that half an hour was a real time anomoly, obeying the theory of relativity and breaking that particular convention by immersing me so fully that it seemed to last forever and yet, not long enough. 'Shanghai Triad' does not contain that one off quality, however, it is in itself a fascinating film. The colour scheme, of many Yimou films remains, his use of colour is deeply moving as it becomes sublime and almost 'old school'. You can see movies of the studio system being played out again but in a whole new style. Red is so prominent once again and for reasons we can only speculate. Personally I see the colour red as an exciting colour, it conveys to me a sense of a past in which I did not belong to, how I did not exist. The fascination I have in history pre-1982 and more importantly the early 20th century glamour and ancient history.

The splendour of the whole thing is beyond belief, it could almost have the production values of a Hollywood mainstream movie. It shows that perhaps you can create a better effect with lower production values. The Tang household is splendid, but it's vastness perfectly encapsulates a lonely feeling that puts you in the place of the child as well as any cliched point of view shots ever could. It is moments like these that prove Yimou's background as a cinematographer, he is a master of the visual, able to simply show a character's mood in an implicit sweep of camera and minutely fine detail within the mise-en-scene excluding cliche from his work completely. This is the sort of filmmaking we would associate with Ridley Scott, Scott is a visualist, he works with far darker tones than Yimou, which from a personal point of view, makes Yimou my prefered choice, but Scott himself blended both dark and light in 'Thelma and Louise' like Yimou has done for most of his career. The characters themselves have layers of light and dark which are conveyed well in all of their surroundings.

This comparison with Scott brings me to the point in Triad when the empathy shifts from the boy to be shared by him and Bijou. This does echo a bit of the Roy Batty syndrome which was probably the reason for 'Blade Runner's' limited success on it's original release, or so says Robert McKee. But Gong Li's performance is outstanding. She nails Bijou's nasty streak to a tee and then compels us to believe that she is more than that. Of course it is helped when the viewer feels that the situation she is in is a frightening one, not unlike mountaineering where one false step could end up in death, at what ever height you are at. Li is one of the finest actresses in the world, not to mention that her beauty is unparalleled. (Despite the fact that she is just four years younger than my mother) The film may not be seen as very moral but it is clear that it has heart as we feel so bad about the events that end the film. Li shows her hardness of character and complete vulnerability then finally her loss of control, shame and regret. This heart is not made of solid stone, rather a quite flexible rubber.

It requires a period of reflection, one that does not equal that of 'Raise the Red Lantern' but is the only film to have such a numbing effect since. By now though, I have Lantern in such a high regard that it borders on gaining a mythical quality as I have yet to see it in it's entirety. It's not every day that a heavily opinionated young man will be reduced to a pathetic single syllable, but when Triad is finished, many of you will be reduced to it too, lay back and just clear your head of anything other than the film, all that enters the head will be "Wow".

There has been way to much chatter about how beautiful this film is with its sumptuous sets, costumes, and magnificent photography. On the surface this looks like another gangster film, this time taking place in Shanghai. But of course, it isn't. The gangster scenario is just the backdrop really.

Shuisheng, a boy of 14, has come to the city to serve the haughty and beautiful Xiao Jingbao, the nightclub singing moll of Tang, head of the most powerful gang in Shanghai.

Shuisheng's uncle is a riot as he gives the boy a whacky set of instructions on how to be a proper servant to snobby Xiao, wonderfully played by Gong Li. "Call her 'Miss'. Follow her wherever she goes, not to far behind, and not to close. That's the rule. Hold her coat in your left hand and her hat in the right, but don't let the coat drag on the floor. That's the rule. Got it?" And the Shuisheng replies, "Got it." However, after "Miss" delights in calling him a country bumpkin, and chews him out a couple of times, (And why not, Shuisheng can't tell a red dress from a green one.) the kid starts looking for the exit. When his uncle tells him, "When she rings for you, stop everything (yes, everything) and go to her. Got it?" His reply this time is, "I want to leave." Bad move, uncle is most displeased.

In many ways, Shuisheng is the most inscrutable character in the movie. He's got a real poker face, and you'll probably have a tough time deciding if he's an idiot, or a sharp kid who's observing things closely and learning fast. This is the heart of the film, the relationship between the boy and the woman. Eventually, the boy will find out the self-important, hip swinging Xiao Jingbao is miserable. She is the beautiful songbird hopelessly trapped in a world where she is bathed in luxury by the ruthless Tang, with no hope of freedom.

The boy's whole attitude changes when he realizes this, and the question the film poses from here is ... what, if anything, can he do about it? If this was an American film, (and I'd love to see such a version) probably plenty, but director Yimou Zhang is a cynical man with a dark outlook on life. All his films have downbeat endings, and this one is no exception. What really bothers me though, is that events take place that result in a complete shift in setting half way through the film, and that's always a dangerous move in the cinema. And this abrupt shift comes at a time when things are just getting interesting in the nightclub, when Shuisheng realizes "Miss" is very unhappy. He might have been able to help her in the big city and spacious confines of the nightclub, but marooned on an island, there's not much he can do. This is a good film, but I would have liked to see the plot move in a different direction in the second half.