Shanghai (2010)

A '40s period piece which revolves around an American expat who returns to Shanghai in the months before Pearl Harbor due to the death of his friend.

Director:

Mikael Håfström

Writer:

Hossein Amini

Stars:

John Cusack, Li Gong, Yun-Fat Chow

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
John Cusack	...	Paul Soames
Li Gong	...	Anna Lan-Ting (as Gong Li)
Yun-Fat Chow	...	Anthony Lan-Ting (as Chow Yun-Fat)
David Morse	...	Richard Astor
Ken Watanabe	...	Tanaka
Franka Potente	...	Leni Mueller
Jeffrey Dean Morgan	...	Conner
Hugh Bonneville	...	Ben Sanger
Yuan On	...	Yuan
Hon Ping Tang	...	Chen
Benedict Wong	...	Juso Kita
Christopher Buchholz	...	Karl Mueller
Ronan Vibert	...	Mikey
Nicholas Rowe	...	Ralph
Michael Culkin	...	Billy

Storyline

An American man returns to a corrupt, Japanese-occupied Shanghai four months before Pearl Harbor and discovers his friend has been killed. While he unravels the mysteries of the death, he falls in love and discovers a much larger secret that his own government is hiding.

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Plot Keywords:

shanghai | suspense | police brutality | mafia | nazi | 

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Taglines:

In a world filled with secrets, solving a mystery can be murder.

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence, some drug use and brief language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [jp]

Country:

USA China

Language:

English Mandarin Japanese German

Release Date:

17 June 2010 (China)

Also Known As:

Shanhai

Filming Locations:

Bangkok, Thailand

Box Office

Budget:

$50,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Living Films, Phoenix Pictures, TWC Asian Film Fund

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Prior to filming, Franka Potente's life was threatened by a stalker. Throughout the filming and entire production she was referred to by a pseudonym.

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Quotes

Paul Soames: The heart is never neutral.

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Soundtracks

"Cocktail Jump"
Composed and Arranged by Stephen Edwards
Courtesy Really Tall Tunes

User Reviews

Pleasant surprise, no big low spots but no big high spots either

This is a reasonably solid neo-noir spy/detective story told in Shanghai of 1941. I give it credit for having avoided the various shoals of parody, exaggeration, satire, overdone explosions, and overly-wordy dialogue that afflict quite a few movies these days. This was a serious attempt to tell a story in a more or less natural and realistic way while focusing on elements that are noir in nature. The characterizations rang reasonably true all the way through and so did the situations. The path it took was not predictable.

Having avoided the low spots and charted a good course, the movie was unable to generate memorable high spot scenes and dialogue. It just sort of went along. In older movies, there are often scenes that one can play and replay endlessly because the writing is that good in bringing out the characters and conflicts plus the magnificent acting and direction of old bring out far more than what is on paper. This is what is lacking in most newer movies, at least so far in the journey I am taking in viewing and assessing them.

This movie lacked a high degree of emotional involvement as well.

The recreation of the period is done very well. The acting was faultless even if it didn't achieve a high degree of involvement or communication of human depths. In that regard, the Japanese official Tanaka, the antagonist, may have had the best lines and the best sense of character arc.

Recommended. Certainly noir fans will find merit in Shanghai. The story is about a spy's efforts to find out who killed his friend, agent Connor, and why. Like all noir detectives, he does so persistently and intelligently. He is especially good at answering questions by using truthful and yet non-revealing responses. That was a strong point of the script.