Shanghai Triad
In his final collaboration with Gong Li for a decade, Zhang Yimou made a crime film where Li’s character is a singer and girlfriend of a crime boss who almost flaunts the fact that she is cheating on him; by the time the film ends, she will be punished for her transgressions. Yimou and Li had entered a romantic relationship, in addition to their creative one, by the time they made “Shanghai Triad”- is this how he viewed Li by the end of their partnership?
The film is seen through the eyes of Shuisheng (Xiaoxiao Wang), a nephew in the Tang clan who has been sent from the village to Shanghai to work for Boss Tang Laoda (Baotian Li), the leader of the Tang crime family in 1930 Shanghai. His job, assigned to him by his Uncle Liu (Xuejian Li), is to be the errand boy for Li’s Bijou. The first 15-20 minutes of the film is Shuisheng being told his responsibilities- keep your eyes down, stand- don’t sit- by the door, and if the bell rings, go to her room immediately. The film tells the story of Shuisheng and Bijou’s connection as it progresses through a gang war between the Tangs and Fat Yu (Jiang Liu).
“Shanghai Triad” is based on a novel by Li Xiao, and I’d be curious what choices were made in the adaptation by screenwriter Feiyu Bi. It’s interesting that this ended up being my follow-up “Repertory Revue” to “Empire of the Sun”- the movies have some surface similarities in that they are told from a young man’s point-of-view, and in each one, the young man is surrounded by questionable morality to where they are not the same person by the end of the movie. There are plenty of differences beyond that, but the most fundamental difference that matters is that, in “Empire of the Sun,” Jamie is a fascinating character, and Shuisheng is dull. He is devoid of personality whatsoever beyond the basic character development we get about him wanting to make enough money to start his own business. When the bloodshed begins, we get a sense of the life maybe having a change in Shuisheng’s priorities, but we never really feel like it changes him in some elemental way like the circumstances change Jamie in Spielberg’s film. He always seems to be watching things unfold without it impacting him, and that’s a big part of why “Shanghai Triad” pales in comparison to some of Zhang’s best films; he just doesn’t really seem to get a feel for how to tell this story.
What Zhang ultimately fixates on, as his protagonist does, is Bijou. Gong Li is one of the most striking leading ladies of the past 30 years, but she feels at a distance here. The musical numbers give her a chance to be sensual and a “star,” and there are moments where the tough, intelligent persona she has displayed in “Raise the Red Lantern,” “Ju Dou,” “Miami Vice” and “Memoirs of a Geisha” shines through, but we don’t get a sense of the character beyond what the narrative tells us. While it’s possible that the political pressure Zhang felt on this production added stress that resulted in him losing focus on this film, it’s just as likely that he just didn’t know how best to tell this story. Either that, or he just didn’t care enough, given what this film represents in both his and Gong Li’s careers, and lives- the end of a fruitful collaboration, which was destined to end badly. Regardless, there’s not much to recommend about “Shanghai Triad,” and as a fan of what actor and director accomplished previously, that’s depressing to say.
