A deep, powerful and rivetingly complex study of Tienanmen - and, ironically, it's far more evenhanded in its account of the massacre that killed more than a thousand protesters than the Chinese government might suspect.

Shanghai Triad plays like a movie in which some scenes are missing, and others have been stretched out to make up the difference.

Shanghai Triad concludes the sublime seven-movie collaboration of Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou and actress Gong Li with a bang worthy of the most jubilant New Year's Eve.

Though autobiography may not have been Zhang Yimou's intention with Shanghai Triad, it's hard not to see the film as a form of self-critique, not least because Boss may be ruthless, but he's also clever, charismatic, and perceptive...