Shanghai Triad

Shanghai in the thirties. Shuisheng comes from the countryside and his uncle finds him a place. His task is to serve a woman. Xiao Jingbao is a singer and the mistress of the most powerful boss in the city. The boy waits in her room, brings her tea and does not speak. She treats him roughly. A reckoning starts between the gangs. After an attempt on a life everyone moves to an island. Things change there; there is no crowd, no performance, and the woman starts behaving like someone else. The boy watches everything. Zhang Yimou directs. Gong Li plays Xiao Jingbao; Li Baotian and Sun Chun are in the cast. It is a Chinese and French co-production, made in 1995. The film won the grand prize for technical achievement at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival; the cinematographer was Lü Yue. The narrative gives the events from the boy's viewpoint; Shuisheng does not understand most of it and the viewer is left with the same gaps. The matter it treats is hierarchy; everyone has someone above them and the man at the top is not safe either. The second half takes place entirely on the island and the register changes. This was among the last works of Zhang Yimou's long partnership with Gong Li; the two did not work together again for years. Colour and setting carry much of it; the nightclub scenes are kept lavish. The ending is given through the boy's eyes and nothing is explained. Its limit is pace; the narrative is slow, there is little event, and the ending cold. Who it is for: viewers who like Chinese cinema and period gangster narrative. Who it is not for: it is slow, distant, and the ending bitter.