"Shanghai Triad" (1995)

(Originally Released as Yao A Yao Yao Dao Waipo Qiao)

Starring: Gong Li, Li Baotian, Wang Xiaoxiao, Xuejian Li, Chun Sun, Biao Fu, Shu Chen

First, the Lowdown: A peasant boy is hired to be the servant of a gangster’s mistress.

I know, yet another Chinese drama starring Gong Li. Deal. At a foggy Shanghai port, Shuisheng is picked up by his Uncle Liu. Uncle works for the Tang crime family and is sponsoring Shuisheng so that he may escape his peasant life in the country. Almost immediately, Shuisheng is confronted with a complete change of life from his home in the country. Before he is even given his assignment, Shuisheng witnesses a gangland execution.

Shuisheng is placed in the service of Bijou, a cabaret singer who is mistress to the leader of the Tang crime family. Bijou is spoiled and arrogant, and impulsive to a dangerous degree. When Uncle Liu is killed protecting his boss, Shuisheng realizes that there is more to working for a gangster than being at the call of his mistress.

In the middle of the night, Shuisheng, Bijou, and Boss Tang are spirited away to a tiny island off the coast of Shanghai, so that they may lie low and avoid Tang’s rival, Fat Yu. Bijou finds the island lethargic and claustrophobic, especially since she is deprived of an audience for her outbursts. However, it’s only in this limited environment where she realizes the consequences to her laissez faire attitude.

Zhang Yimou is an excellent director, with a distinctive eye. Unfortunately, without a story to back it up, what you have is a soap opera with better sets. The entirety of the movie can be summed up with its opening scene: a close-up of Shuisheng, looking left and right in confused amazement of the busy port that we don’t get to see. Shuisheng is the weakest character in the entire film, and unfortunately he is also the most prominent. Being a servant, he is not told anything about what happens around him, nor is allowed to interact with the stronger presences around him, and thusly neither is the audience.

Line of the movie: “The older you get, the more you know about pain.”

Three and a half stars. Boo-ya!