Shanghai Triad

Starring: Gong Li, Xiaoxiao Wang, Baotian Li, Xuejian Li, Chun Shun, Bia Fu, Shu Chen, Qianquan Yang
Directed by: Yimou Zhang
Rating: R
Genre: Drama, Thriller
1995

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A boy is recruited by his uncle to act as a servant to a brutal crime boss's mistress.

Review:

Tim: There's several things to unpack with Yimou Zhang's Shanghai Triad. I haven't seen a ton of films from China, but I always enjoy stepping into that world for a film. This movie was purposely designed to be more of a "straightforward" gangster film, although Zhang's creativity and vision brought in several subtle changes that make this movie feel unique. Overall, I liked the movie and recognize several great strengths. However, there's other aspects of the film that feel odd, creating a disjointed effect. It's a good movie, but not even close to a great one.

One of the unique attributes of the film that doesn't quite work is having the film be from the point-of-view of this provincial boy who is thrust into this Triad gang world by working as a servant to the big boss's mistress. This is absolutely an original concept, seeing the world through his eyes. The problem here is that the boy is never at the center of the action. So, the entire film feels like it's coming from a peripheral perspective. It creates this odd feeling, that much of the action, of the conversations we want to be apart of, take place off screen. We see the world through this boy's eyes and he's purposely kept at a distance. The movie deserves immense credit for such a unique spin on the gangster film, but it also hurts the movie. It never feels like we're in the middle of anything. It's not the most engaging experience, to feel like you're just getting bits and snippets of what might have been a much more compelling film. Such an original but shaky approach.

I generally did enjoy the glimpses we got into organized crime in China, in the 1930s. I haven't seen that a hundred times before, so it felt interesting. The culture, the unique setting felt like a real differentiator here. I'm sure this is somewhat because I'm an American who hasn't seen a ton of Chinese cinema, but it is definitely a plus for the film.

The cast is fine. Xiaoxiao Wang does a decent job as the boy. I'm not sure if he did anything excellently, but he's not bad. His tentativeness works in the role, although it's obvious he's not called upon to do much. Gong Li was absolutely a standout- her character is larger-than-life, memorable, a force. I didn't like her character at all in the beginning. That was still true in the end, but I might have felt just a hint of sympathy for her. It's a solid performance, working with a script that had some character issues. Baotian Li was solid as the menacing boss. The rest of the cast works well, too.

One of the other big strengths of the film is the cinematography. The movie is beautifully shot, resulting in the film's lone Academy Award nomination- for Best Cinematography. I thought it was interesting that this film received the technical category nom, but nothing for Best Foreign Language Film. I can't claim to be too surprised- I think this movie is good and beautiful to look at, but definitely flawed narratively. The story is never boring, but it never truly compels you. You're always at least mildly interested in the proceedings and curious to see how the story wraps up, but there's not really any characters to root for. The boy is too lackluster and wooden for us to feel much for him. The mistress is a fairly awful person, even despite those glimmers of humanity we see as the film progresses. Everyone else is a bit on the outside- we don't really spend much time with anyone else to make a difference.

One other note- there's a song that plays repeatedly throughout the film. I thought it was haunting and the repetition was an interesting creative choice. I generally liked it and thought it was a unique aspect of this film that emerged as one of the more memorable aspects of it. I read a few things where it was incredibly annoying to some viewers and I admit, at a certain point I wondered how many times they'd play variations of that same tune. As a whole, though, I did enjoy the song and what it did for the film creatively.

Shanghai Triad is a solid and interesting film. It takes some chances, although not all of them pay off. It's worth seeing for the cinematography and some of those other unique qualities, but it's not the most memorable film. The characters are average, the cast good but a bit unremarkable. This is a movie that is probably worth seeing, but you wouldn't miss too much if you pass.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



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