Shanghai Triad has an interesting MO. It is really a socio-historical commentary masquerading as a coming of age story masquerading as a Gangster Film.<br /><br />Yimou makes bold storytelling choices - using the servant boy of a gang lord's mistress as the unlikely protagonist - shifting the setting of the film suddenly from bustling urban Shanghai to the peaceful Chinese Countryside.<br /><br />The risk taking pays off - it is what separates Triad from generic Hollywood tripe.<br /><br />Rather than some sort of high-handed morality play or costume melodrama, Yimou uses the story to illustrate the corruption of innocence, shifting loyalties and the endless struggle for power and dominance.<br /><br />Yimou purposely subverts our expectations of the genre picture by denying any form of release - any false catharsis/closure.<br /><br />The protagonist/viewer can only watch helplessly from the sidelines as the cycle of violence and exploitation continues.<br /><br />This device will prove undoubtedly frustrating to a Hollywood Audience and I commend him for it.