Shanghai (2010) Gong Li · John Cusack · Chow Yun-Fat + more!
4431DVD
director:
Mikael Hafstrom
starring: Gong Li · John Cusack · Chow Yun-Fat · Ken Watanabe
Rinko Kikuchi · David Morse · Jeffrey Dean Morgan
The intriguing
espionage story - set in the late '40s - deals with an American undercover
spy, Paul Soames, who - a week before the Pearl Harbor attack - travels
to the corrupt, Japanese-occupied city of Shanghai to visit a friend who
is also a government agent. Upon his arrival, Paul discovers that his
friend has been murdered. While attempting to unravel the mystery surrounding
the death, he falls in love with Anna, the girlfriend of a local mob boss,
and then inadvertently discovers a much larger secret that his own government
is hiding.
A massive,
all-star International cast punctuates this epic "Casablanca" style
film from Swedish director Hafstrom (best known for the American thriller
Derailed and DROWNING
GHOST). The excellent cast doesn't disappoint. American actor
John Cusack is solid and believable as the spy posing as a journalist.
It's not hard to understand why he would fall for the insanely beautiful
Gong Li (from numerous great films including CHINESE
BOX, EROS
and, of course, the elegantly sexy CURSE
OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER). She plays Anna Lan-Ting with an intense,
seductive passion.
Anna's
mob-boss husband, Anthony, is Hong Kong icon Chow Yun Fat, a complex character
who exudes both charm and danger at the same time. Equally sinister is
the award-winning Japanese actor Ken Watanabe as Tanaka while Jeffrey
Dean Morgan almost steals the show as the agent friend Conner who ends
up dead.
An
International Swedish/Japanese/Chinese production; original fullscreen
format (16:9), 96 minutes, encoded for ALL REGION NTSC, playable on
any American machine; in English or Chinese language with optional English
or Chinese subtitles. Extras include trailers and behind the scenes
featurette.
Violence/Drugs/Sexual
Situations /Adult Material:
For Mature Audiences