It’s been quite a year for Wong Kar-wai. The legendary Hong Kong auteur’s masterpieces were restored after a years-long process and arrived in a stunning Criterion box set. He’s also been hard at work on his next project, the long-gestating Blossoms Shanghai. First produced as a TV series with production beginning last July and recently ending, plus a movie version also in the works, we got previously said. Starring Hu Ge, Ma Yili, Kris Wu, and Xin Zhilei, the project was written by award-winning Shanghainese screenwriter Qin Wen, and features visual supervision from Academy Award-winning cinematographer Peter Pau.
“Jin Yucheng’s landmark novel BLOSSOMS has been the perfect backdrop to visualize and share my love for my birth city,” said Wong Kar-wai. “With the series, I would like to invite the audience to immerse in the intrigues of Shanghai and its inhabitants in the early 1990s, an exciting time that paved the way for the prosperity of modern Shanghai.”
See the trailer with English subtitles and synopsis below.
BLOSSOMS SHANGHAI tells the story of an enigmatic, self-made millionaire, Mr. Bao (Hu Ge), and his journey of reinvention from a young opportunist with a troubled past to the heights of the gilded city of Shanghai. Set against the backdrop of massive economic growth in 1990’s Shanghai, the series unveils the glamour that follows his dazzling wealth and his entanglement with four fabulous women that represent the pursuits of his life: adventure, honor, love and innocence.
Blossoms Shanghai arrives in 2022.