Folk tale meets gangster movie

SHANGHAI TRIAD.

Directed by Zhang Yimou. Starring Gong Li, Li Baotian and Li Xuejian. Opens Thursday at UA Queensway, UA Times Square, UA Whampoa, UA Sha Tin, Astor, Columbia Classics, Majestic New York and Golden Gateway.

ZHANG Yimou's latest film takes the viewer back to the colourful chaos of 1930s Shanghai. As the English title suggests, it is superficially a gangster story. However, submerged in the film is a warning to today's Chinese not to forgo their humanity in the pursuit of wealth and power.

Zhang, along with Chen Kaige, is the most famous of China's Fifth Generation directors - film-makers who entered the Beijing Film Academy when it resumed courses in 1978 after being closed during the Cultural Revolution. The Fifth Generation went on to become a powerful force in world cinema.

Since directing Red Sorghum in 1988, Zhang has received acclaim for intense, sometimes allegorical tales like Judou, Raise The Red Lantern and last year's Lifetimes. He has also been in his fair share of headlines because of his recently terminated romance with leading lady Gong Li, who has starred in all his films.

This time around, Gong plays Xiao Jinbao, the mistress to a powerful crime boss, Tang, the 'Godfather'. Although it's set against a backdrop of opium smuggling, Shanghai Triad is essentially her story: that of a woman hardened, trapped and destroyed by circumstances beyond her control. The drama is played out through the eyes of a naive country boy, Shui Sheng, who moves to Shanghai to join Tang's triad gang. On arrival, Shui Sheng is given the unpalatable job of serving the fiery Xiao.