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Cast: Vivian Wu, Richard Burgi, Kenny Bee, You Ge, Honglei Sun
Vivian Wu ("The Pillow Book," "Eve and the Fire Horse") plays Meili, an interpreter who becomes an angel of vengeance when her husband is shot dead on his way to sign a joint-venture contract. The appearance of an enigmatic American (Richard Burgi, Desperate Housewives) who claims to be a kind of troubleshooter for companies draws her into a web of deceit, love and guilt in this time bending murder mystery that is part Memento and part Lover.
Mourning over the loss of her husband and filled with regret Meili does the only thing that seems honorable, revenge the death of her husband by killing those responsible. As the film moves along we learn that no one can really be trusted and no one is who they say they are, everyone has a secret. Shanghai Red is a drama/revenge film that plays out in a few different time lines, As the film opens we see Meili in her red dress going to a meet a man who had a lot to do with her husband's death, she shoots and kills the man, from there we see her sitting a prison gray uniform as she is talking to her lawyer, her hair is now cut and what you now are seeing is the after math of what happened. She tells her lawyer what had transpired and by doing so we see what happened in flashbacks. There has been other films that have used this technique to tell their story but I don't think they told it as elegantly as Shanghai Red does. The scenes are well-placed and the story flows endlessly between the past and present day. This is a slow moving film with more talk than action so if you are expecting a revenge film with guns blazing I recommend looking elsewhere because this is not that kind of film. Instead Shanghai Red depends on it's characters and story to carry it to the end and in doing so it creates a film that is captivating and engaging and believable. The cast is terrific, Vivian Wu is brilliant as the wife and mother who sets out to right the wrongs, she is as talented as she is beautiful and she lights up the screen in every scene she is in. The story is multi-layered and there's a few nice twists along the way as well to keep the viewer interested but that isn't hard to do since right from the opening the film with it's look, cinematography and story it grabs a hold of you and doesn't let go till the very end. I am not going to spoil anything here by going into details about what happens or even about certain characters that play key roles in the film but I can say for a film that moves as deliberately slow as this one does there is a lot happening in the story and between the characters involved. I would like to compare the film to others like it but I refuse to because Shanghai Red is a film that is fresh and original and it certainly stands on it's own. It is hard to pick what I liked best about the film because it does so many things well but the cast is one thing that made the film better. I recommend this to anyone that likes drama with a bit of an edge and characters you feel for in one way or another.
Meili is a woman scorned, a widower looking to set things straight but falling victim to lies and betrayal, as for the film, it's a gem that should not be missed. The film is presented in English and Mandarin with English Subtitles. Director, Oscar L. Costo has a good eye for detail and crafts a good story, I look forward to any future projects from him. Shanghai Red is expected to get a theater run soon, you can follow it's progress at it's Official Site HERE.
Released by Indican Pictures
**** Out Of *****