Trueba doesn't seem to make up his mind with 'El Embrujo de Shanghai'. Within the main story there's another one, a Chinese story that has nothing to do with the rest of the events (even though it's well shot and reminds one of the days of film noir). In the last half hour, when the last portion of the Chinese story ends, the main story takes a drastic turn that feels forced and out of sync. The writing lacks depth and development, as a result of which the performances suffer. Jorge Sanz, Rosa Maria Sardà and Fernando Fernán Gómez are wasted. Ariadna Gil's role is a caricature alcoholic mom. In terms of execution, with the exception of the Chinese subplot, everything else is ordinary. At times the lighting was irritating. Overall I enjoyed the film noir sequences and the scenes that involved Dani and his drawings. I had expected better from Fernando Trueba.
Review of El embrujo de Shanghai
