A provincial boy related to a Shanghai crime family is recruited by his uncle into cosmopolitan Shanghai in the 1930s to be a servant to a gang lord's mistress.
Roger Ebert provided a counterpoint to the film's general praise, arguing that the choice of the boy as the film's main protagonist ultimately hurt the film, and that Shanghai Triad was probably "the last, and certainly the least, of the collaborations between the Chinese director Zhang Yimou and the gifted actress Gong Li" (though Gong would again work with Zhang in 2006's Curse of the Golden Flower). Even Ebert however, conceded that the film's technical credits were well done, calling Zhang one of the "best visual stylists of current cinema." I don't know if I would be as harsh as Ebert. I do think the cinematography is the film's strong point, much more than the plot itself. But I take no issue with the boy being the protagonist. That seems to make more sense if you want to keep the gangster film fresh.
Roger Ebert provided a counterpoint to the film's general praise, arguing that the choice of the boy as the film's main protagonist ultimately hurt the film, and that Shanghai Triad was probably "the last, and certainly the least, of the collaborations between the Chinese director Zhang Yimou and the gifted actress Gong Li" (though Gong would again work with Zhang in 2006's Curse of the Golden Flower). Even Ebert however, conceded that the film's technical credits were well done, calling Zhang one of the "best visual stylists of current cinema." I don't know if I would be as harsh as Ebert. I do think the cinematography is the film's strong point, much more than the plot itself. But I take no issue with the boy being the protagonist. That seems to make more sense if you want to keep the gangster film fresh.