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Review

Living in a rural town, brothers Kang (Liu Ye) and Xiao Hu (Tony Yang) hunger for the big city life of Shanghai, where fortune, and love are seductively abundant. With their best friend Fung (Wu), who is like a brother to them, they decide to make the move. Immediately the trio falls under the spell of Boss Hong, a crime lord with ties to both the city's film industry, and black market. Boss Hong is also the owner of a glamourous nightclub, where the luminous showgirl LuLu (Shu Qi) casts her nightly spell performing in jazzy musical numbers. Enamored with the chanteuse, Fung discovers that the luscious beauty is having an affair with Boss Hong's top hitman. When nefarious truths begin to rear their ugly heads, the brothers are forced to grapple with their morality as they find themselves instigating violence and questioning their loyalty to each other. Produced by famed filmmaker John Woo and his long-time collaborator Terence Chang, this dazzling debut feature from newcomer Alexi Tan tells a gorgeously rendered tale that is filled with stylish gunplay and a rich melodramatic story about familial obligation. Blood Brothers is a lush, soulful addition to Asian cinema. (Mandarin with English subtitles)

 -- Lewis Tice