Shanghai Triad by Zhang Yimou

"Shanghai Triad" by Zhang Yimou is a fantastic film from 1999. Li Gong stars as the mistress of a crime lord in Shanghai, China during the 1930's. A young man, Shuisheng, (Wang Xiaoxiao) is a relative of the a major crime family and pulled from his life in the country side to city life as he is assigned to be the new personal assistant to the boss's mistress. Shuisheng is awed and very overwhelmed when he realizes the life and danger he is now involved in.

Xiao (Li Gong) is your typical diva with her head very up in the clouds. She is the main singer at a prominent nightclub run by the boss. As Shuisheng soon learns, the happy life Xiao pretends to have unwinds to reveal how unhappy Xiao is, and that she is having an affair.



The drugs being trafficked soon start trouble as a gang leader decides to declare war. The boss is convinced that one of his men is not loyal to him and does not know who to trust. One night, the house is broken into by the rival gang where a small massacre occurs. To stay safe, the boss takes Xiao, Shuisheng, and a few trusted others out into the country to lay low until the heat as come down.



While out in the country a mother and daughter befriend Xiao and she slowly becomes less of a snot and soon grows fond of the little girl when Xiao learns she can sing and bonds with her over it.



By the end of the film the boss realizes who the traitor is and that is was the man Xiao was having an affair with. After all is revealed the boss takes the man and Xiao out into and open area while it is pouring rain. The traitor gives his little "villain" speech and is walked off. Then the boss announces that Xiao was just as un loyal for the affair and was to be executed for her crime as well. Like that was enough, the mother of the daughter was to be killed since she knew far too much because of Xiao getting to close to her.



The next day the boss takes the little girl with him as they depart the island. The little girl is unaware of her mother and Xiao's fate. The movie ends with the uncertainty of what will happen.....



The theme of the movie is don't judge a book by its cover. Xiao learns that you cannot just see life as you think it is or play by your own rules. Life has a way of showing you that you are not as right as you think you are.



I thought this film was excellent. It does have a slow beginning but it picks up and holds your attention up tot eh very end. The actors didn't have too much energy but they still got the lines across, and Li Gong filled the screen with her beautiful presence.