Shanghai

One place that seems iconic for the 30s and 40s is Shanghai. It seems to have been an interesting blend of east and west, as well as popularizing the look of women in red qipaos.

There´s a new movie out, called simply Shanghai, which is set there in the 1940s. It features Chow Yun Fat, John Cusack and a few others.

I was wondering if anyone could recommend movies set in 1940s urban China? I know 2046 by Wong Kar Wai is set during that time. Any other good ones? The language is not important, I can cope with subtitles.

Tags: China, Chow, Fat, Gong, Li, Shanghai, Singapore, Yun

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Permalink Reply by J.R. on April 30, 2012 at 10:47am

The movie Chen Zhen: Return of the Fist is set in 1930s Shanghai. It's a pretty crap movie overall, but the costumes and atmosphere have to be seen to be believed -- and the action scenes, few of them though there are, have that comic-book exaggeration that makes the movie feel extremely dieselpunkish.

A lot of Zhang Yimou's movies take place in the '20s, '30s and '40s in Shanghai or other parts of China. They're realistic slow-burning dramas with gorgeous cinematography and costumes. Shanghai Triad is a '30s-set gangster film that is (like all of his films) well worth seeking out.

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Permalink Reply by J.R. on April 30, 2012 at 7:13pm

This just in: Anyone who's interested in this setting or Chinese stuff in general, and/or anyone who digs Parov Stelar and those kinds of electro-swing reinventions... check this out. Ian Widgery, a Vancouver-based music producer, lent his talents to remixing and re-releasing a bunch of 1930s-era female vocal radio songs from China. And they're (pardon my lingua franca) fucking awesome.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsN_jJtOfiU

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Permalink Reply by Komissar Hass on May 3, 2012 at 2:42am

awesome music form Ian Widger, J.R.!

by the way, I've recently visited Shanghai, and I'll try to add some photos soon. They have a great museum of City history, that mostly covers diesel-era.