Shanghai on Film: 8 Movies With Unforgettable Shanghai Scenes

Shanghai on Film: 8 Movies With Unforgettable Shanghai Scenes
By Susie Gordon , eChinacities.com

Shanghai is an eminently picturesque city, from the pretty streets and Art Deco villas of the former French Concession to the skyscrapers of Lujiazui and the colonial buildings that line the Bund. Many films have been set and filmed in Shanghai through the years, making the most of the varied urban scenery. Here are eight you should check out.

1) Looper
Rian Johnson’s 2012 sci-fi blockbuster Looper features a number of futuristic scenes of Shanghai. The film follows a hit man called Joe Simmons (played by both Joseph Gordon Levitt and Bruce Willis) who assassinates targets sent from the future. Things spiral out of control when one of those targets is his future-self. In the film, the old Joe from the future sets up a new life in Shanghai, falling in love with a beautiful local woman who puts his life back on track. Interestingly, Shanghai scenes that were originally cut from the movie were added back into the version released in the Mainland to please Chinese audiences (and no doubt appease the censors too). Stunning views of the Bund, landmark buildings, swanky sky-high bars and Shanghai back streets can be seen in the film.

2) Skyfall
The latest Bond movie gets in on the Shanghai action with several high-octane scenes. The 23rd in the Bond franchise, Skyfall (2012) sees the eponymous hero pitted against an enemy who has attacked M16 and threatened his beloved M. Bond’s investigations lead him to Shanghai, where he zips through the halls of Pudong Airport, engages in a thrilling car chase down main roads like the Yan’an Elevated Highway and fights an assassin in one of the skyscrapers located in Lujiazui.

3) Empire of the Sun
A classic Shanghai movie, this adaptation of J. G. Ballard’s semi-autobiographical novel contains some great views of the city. Released in 1987, Spielberg’s epic follows a young boy from a wealthy British family who becomes embroiled in the Sino-Japanese War and is imprisoned in an interment camp. One of the most memorable scenes shows the twin-spired St. Ignatius Cathedral in Xujiahui, and there are also some good shots of the Longhua Temple pagoda.

4) Suzhou Creek (苏州河)
Lou Ye’s 2000 film Suzhou He is a moody, brooding depiction of life in today’s Shanghai, away from the glitz and wealth of the modern city. The action centers, unsurprisingly, around Suzhou Creek, and stars Zhou Xun as two separate women, one of whom is a past lover of the male lead Jia Hongsheng. Typical of the 6th Generation filmmakers, Lou Ye has shown a side of the city that is at odds with modern perceptions of glitz and glamour. The scenes shot down by the creek, among abandoned warehouses and dilapidated buildings, create a bleak atmosphere.

5) Mission Impossible: 3
Another action thriller to feature scenes set in Shanghai, the third in the Mission Impossible sees Tom Cruise as an IMF agent who is tasked with rescuing one of his protégés from captors. He must recover an object called the “Rabbit’s Foot”, and his search leads him to Shanghai. While some of the Shanghai scenes were actually filmed in the nearby water town of Xitang, the city itself takes center stage on several occasions, including the neon-blue Yan’an Elevated Highway at night, and the iconic Lujiazui skyline.

6) Perhaps Love (如果爱)
Billed as China’s answer to Moulin Rouge, Perhaps Love was the first musical to be made on the Mainland in over four decades. Directed by Peter Chan and released in 2005, it is a romp through the cabarets of Golden Age Shanghai, telling the story of an impresario who writes a musical. It stars Zhou Xun and Takeshi Kaneshiro, and features some great shots of Old Shanghai lanes and alleys, plus the interiors of nightclubs and dance halls.

7) The White Countess
While received mostly with scorn in film circles, this movie is worth seeing if only for the Shanghai atmosphere and 1930s scenes. Directed by James Ivory from a screenplay by Kazuo Ishiguru, The White Countess stars Natasha Richardson as a Russian refugee from the Bolshevik Revolution, who starts working at a seedy Shanghai bar as a taxi dancer. She catches the eye of an American (played by Ralph Fiennes) who names his new club after her. Much of the action was filmed on sound stages, but there are some good shots of Art Deco hotels and French Concession streets.

8) Lust Caution
Part of Ang Lee’s 2007 film adaptation of Eileen Chang’s spy novel is set in Hong Kong in 1938, and part in Shanghai in 1942. The plot revolves around the beautiful Mrs Mai (played by Tang Wei) who becomes involved in a complicated espionage plot, and falls in love with the man at the center of it. The scenes shot in Shanghai show the characters in period dress, on streets like Nanjing Dong Lu mocked up with old street signs and cars.

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Keywords: Shanghai movies Films set in Shanghai

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