Shanghai Red

2006 American film

Vivian Wu
Richard Burgi

CinematographyAdam KaneEdited byJosh MuscatineMusic byRandy Miller

Production
companies

Shanghai Film Group
MARdeORO Films

Distributed byIndican Pictures

Release dates

27 August 2006 (2006-08-27) (Montreal World Film Festival)
29 April 2007 (2007-04-29) (China)

Running time

118 minutesCountriesUnited States
ChinaLanguagesEnglish
Mandarin

Shanghai Red (Chinese: 红美丽) is a 2006 Chinese-American thriller-drama film directed by Oscar L. Costo, starring Vivian Wu and Richard Burgi.

Cast

Vivian Wu as Zhu Mei Li
Richard Burgi as Michael Johnson
Sun Honglei as Lawyer
Ge You as Mr. Feng
Kenny Bee as Lian Wei
Tong Zhengwei as Wei Ma
Monica Mok as Ma Fang
Roger Yuan as Mr. Lee

Release

The film premiered at the Montreal World Film Festival on 27 August 2006.^[1]

Reception

Ronnie Scheib of Variety praised the performances of Wu and Sun, and wrote that the film "provides its own correctives, taking unexpected detours at all the plot’s weakest, most predictable moments, and thereby defusing action-movie cliches."^[1]

Gary Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times wrote that Costo "effectively tells the film’s carefully unfolding story in flashbacks", while Kane's "rich" cinematographer "vividly captures a mostly sleek and seductive Shanghai".^[2]

Maggie Lee of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that "any attempt at psychological penetration is distracted by all the action, suspense, romance and Shanghai city tours that fill up the film’s running time."^[3]

References

^ ^a ^b Scheib, Ronnie (30 August 2006). "Shanghai Red". Variety. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
^ Goldstein, Gary (4 May 2012). "Movie review: Not all is as it seems in 'Shanghai Red'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
^ Lee, Maggie (10 July 2007). "Shanghai Red". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 28 December 2022.