Shanghai Triad

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Shanghai Triad
Directed by Zhang Yimou
Produced by Yves Marmion
Jean-Louis Piel
Wu Yigong
Written by Bi Feiyu
Li Xiao (novel)
Starring Gong Li
Li Baotian
Wang Xiaoxiao
Music by Zhang Guangtian
Cinematography Lü Yue
Editing by Du Yuan
Distributed by United States:
Sony Pictures Classics
Release date(s) Cannes:
May 1995
United States:
22 December 1995
Running time 103 mins
Language Mandarin
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Shanghai Triad (simplified Chinese: 摇啊摇，摇到外婆桥; traditional Chinese: 摇呀摇，摇到外婆橋; pinyin: yáo a yáo, yáo dào wàipó qiáo) is a 1995 Chinese film, directed by Zhang Yimou and starring Gong Li. The film is set in the criminal underworld of 1930s Shanghai and spans seven days. The film's Chinese title roughly translates as "Row the boat to Grandma Bridge" and is based on a traditional Chinese lullaby.[1]

The film was the last collaboration between Zhang Yimou and actress Gong Li in the 1990s, thus ending a successful partnership that had begun with Zhang's debut Red Sorghum and had evolved into a romantic relationship as well. With the wrapping of filming for Shanghai Triad however, the two agreed to end their relationship both professionally and personally.[2] Gong Li and Zhang Yimou would not work together again until after over a decade had passed, in 2006's Curse of the Golden Flower.

Contents

[edit] Plot

The story is about a young boy, Tang Shuisheng (Wang Xiaoxiao), who just arrived in Shanghai working as a servant in a Triad owned nightclub. He is assigned to Xiao Jinbao (Gong Li), a cabaret singer and girlfriend of Tang, the Triad Boss (Li Baotian).

Jinbao is cheating on the Boss with Song (Shun Chun), whom the Boss suspects is planning to betray him. After a bloody gang fight in which Shuisheng's uncle dies, the Boss and a small entourage retreat to a peasants' island. There, Jinbao befriends Cuihau (Jiang Baoying), an unassuming woman who prepares meals for the visitors, while Shuisheng befriends Ajiao (Yang Qianguan), Cuihau's daughter. Jinbao unwittingly gets Cuihau and her brother-in-law killed. Song arrives and the Boss calmly confronts him with evidence of his treachery. The gang kills Song and Jinbao. The Boss takes Ajiao back to Shanghai with him (saying she will be the new Jinbao when she is older), along with Shuisheng tied to the sails of the ship.

[edit] Cast

  • Wang Xiaoxiao as Tang Shuisheng, the young boy who serves as the film's protagonist. Tang has recently come under the care of the triad member Uncle Liu when he falls under the spell of the boss's mistress, Jinbao.
  • Gong Li as Xiao Jinbao, a country girl turned Shanghai nightclub singer, Jinbao is the mistress of the Triad Boss.
  • Li Xuejian as Uncle Liu, one of the Boss's lackeys.
  • Li Baotian as Tang the Triad Boss, seemingly sophisticated and soft-spoken, the Boss hides a ruthless side.
  • Shun Chun as Song, the Boss's ambitious number two man, Song's affair with Jinbao sets up the film's main conflict.
  • Yang Qianguan as Ajiao, a young girl living in the countryside; she serves to remind Jinbao of her own youth.
  • Jiang Baoying as Cuihao, Ajiao's mother, a peasant woman who prepares meals for the Boss while he is hiding in his country estate.

[edit] Production

Shanghai Triad was director Zhang Yimou's seventh feature film. Zhang's previous film, To Live, however, had landed the director in trouble with Chinese authorities, and he was temporarily banned from making any films funded from overseas sources.[1] Shanghai Triad was therefore only allowed to continue production after it was officially categorized as local production. The director himself has since noted that his selection of Shanghai Triad to follow up the politically controversial To Live was no accident, with the hope that a "gangster movie" would be a conventional film.[3]

The film was originally intended to be a straight adaptation of the novel Gang Law by author Li Xiao. This plan eventually changed with Gong Li's character becoming more important and the story's viewpoint shifting to that of the young boy, Tang Shuisheng. As a result the film's title was changed to reflect its new "younger" perspective.[1]

[edit] Reception

Though perhaps less well known than some of Zhang Yimou's more celebrated films (notably Ju Dou, To Live and Raise the Red Lantern), Shanghai Triad was nevertheless generally praised by critics upon its release, with an 85% "fresh" rating on the review-database, Rotten Tomatoes. With its headline position in the New York Film Festival, The New York Times' critic Janet Maslin opened her review that despite the cliched genre of the "gangster film," Shanghai Triad nevertheless "movingly affirms the magnitude of [Zhang Yimou's] storytelling power."[3] Derek Elley of the entertainment magazine Variety similarly found the film to be an achievement, particularly in how it played with genre conventions, calling the film a "stylized but gripping portrait of mob power play and lifestyles in 1930 Shanghai."[1] Roger Ebert, however, provided a counterpoint to the film's praise, arguing that the choice of the boy as the film's main protagonist ultimately hurt the film, and that Shanghai Triad was probably "the last, and ... certainly the least, of the collaborations between the Chinese director Zhang Yimou and the gifted actress Gong Li" (though Gong would again work with Zhang in 2006's Curse of the Golden Flower).[2] Even Ebert however, conceded that the film's technical credits were well done, calling Zhang one of the "best visual stylists of current cinema."[2]

[edit] Awards and nominations

The Shanghai Triad Region 1 DVD cover
The Shanghai Triad Region 1 DVD cover

[edit] DVD release

Shanghai Triad was released on December 12, 2000 in the United States on region 1 DVD by Sony Pictures' Columbia Tristar label. The DVD edition includes English and Spanish subtitles. The DVD is in the widescreen letterbox format with an aspect ratio of 1.85:1.

[edit] See also

  • Triads — Chinese underground societies that play a major part of the film

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d Elley, Derek (1995-05-25). Shanghai Triad Review. Variety. Retrieved on 2008-05-07.
  2. ^ a b c Ebert, Roger (1996-02-16). Shanghai Triad. The Chicago Sun Times. Retrieved on 2008-05-07.
  3. ^ a b Maslin, Janet (1995-09-29). Shanghai triad - Movie - Review. The New York Times. Retrieved on 2008-05-07.

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Films directed by Zhang Yimou
Red Sorghum (1987) • Codename Cougar (1989) • Ju Dou (1990) • Raise the Red Lantern (1991) • The Story of Qiu Ju (1992) • To Live (1994) • Shanghai Triad (1995) • Keep Cool (1997) • The Road Home (1999) • Not One Less (1999) • Happy Times (2000) • Hero (2002) • House of Flying Daggers (2004) • Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles (2005) • Curse of the Golden Flower (2006)
v • d • e
Cinema of China