Shanghai Triad

This is a mobster movie realized by the famous Chinese director Zhang Yimou. Everything takes place in the underground world of Shanghai where the Tang’s family is well established and respected. They are involved in all kind of transactions, drugs and plenty of illegal stuffs. The boss only keeps blood-relative at his services. They are the only one he trusts. A country boy discovers all these businesses when he comes to the city. As a Tang himself, he is placed to the service of the boss’ mistress. This country boy does everything wrong and the bad attitude of the mistress is also not helping him. She is a rude and selfish girl who signs at the boss ‘club. After coming under attack, the boss and a selected group among his men, refuge on an island close to the city. There the boss finds out that one of his right men is working with his enemies and counts on taking over the family. He also has an affaire with his mistress. The boss has all of them kill and anyone else that comes close to know or susceptible to be in relation to them. The country boy gets to live as it seems not part of the complot.
As all mobster movies, this one explores many themes such as trust, treason, respect, and secrecy. Everyone in Shanghai respect the Tang family. Among them, there are many secrets in regard to killing and the traffic of dugs. That the way it is.
This is a very pleasant movie, very rich in color and costumes design. The environment of the club appears agreeably on the screen. It reflects a mixture of fancy and good living. The island is also greatly presented in good shot. I love the view where the boy has overheard of the complot.
The relationship between the character plays by Gong Li and the country boy is very interesting.
There is a sense of not complete in the movie. I mean beside that the boss says that his right man is walking for the enemy; there is no other evidence of that in the movie. The same thing is also there for the assertion that the enemies killed the uncle of the boy. There is no shots related created the connections. Perhaps those stay in the underground to match the characteristic of the movie.