Blossoms Shanghai
(2025)

Wong Kar Wai’s BLOSSOMS SHANGHAI 🌃 繁花

Just as Jay Gatsby embodies the glittering chaos of New York in the Roaring Twenties, Ah Bao is the heartbeat of Shanghai in the Prosperous Nineties.

Wong Kar Wai, one of modern cinema’s most visionary auteurs, makes his television series directorial debut by transforming Jin Yucheng’s 2013 novel Blossoms into a cinematic masterpiece for the small screen.

BLOSSOMS SHANGHAI unveils a city teeming with ambition, excess, and cunning. On Huanghe Road, every dinner is a deal, every deal a step toward securing your place among Shanghai’s elite. Here, power is measured not by force, but by wealth, and the wits to wield it.

At the center is Ah Bao. A man of the people, loyal to the few who stood by him long before his rise, he is principled, determined, and quietly magnetic. Watching him, you want to be more than you are, to honor your own code while navigating a world that demands compromise.

BLOSSOMS SHANGHAI is without a doubt one of the best TV series of the year.

The energy of BLOSSOMS SHANGHAI evokes The Great Gatsby, capturing a city in motion, this time, powered by the stock market boom of the 1990s. Old money clashes with new; lavish gatherings double as arenas for power-brokering; every interaction carries weight, every glance a calculation.

The series merges the intrigue of Suits (2011) with the ruthless ambition of Succession (2018), yet it’s not about legal battles or inheritance wars. It’s about a man striving to do right by those around him, even as others manipulate the city’s financial and social landscape. While Ah Bao anchors the story, a constellation of characters leaves their marks on Shanghai, even if only as fleeting whispers in the wind.

“Take one step back, and the world gets larger.”

The hustle and bustle of the stock market is the galvanizing force for these characters, but at its core, the bonds of friendship that fray under the weight of business are what carry this series.

In the same way men cling to women for intimacy rather than friendship, this series masterfully shows the reverse, women staying close to men in the hope of love. In the end, both versions of that scenario leave wounds, with each person projecting their own hurt onto the other.

I was devastated watching the friendship that felt so strong unravel between Ah Bao and Miss Wang. They navigated their business relations with unwavering professionalism, yet jealousy and envy from those on the outside exploited the patience they had, threatening the fragile possibility that their bond could become something more.

“Love blooms when the stars align, miss one thing—and you’re left with almost.” Hearing those words hit like a gut punch. Watching time pass without her, but seeing him keep her in his memory, even as the silence became deafening, was a quiet heartbreak that lingered long after the screen faded to black.

“The night lights blooming and withering at the same time.”

Bao strives to be the version of himself everyone admires, yet he stretches himself thin, and eventually, everyone else changes, leaving him to do what he has always done: move forward.

There are moments that may turn viewers off, rooftop proclamations of ambition, or the side-eyeing, soap-opera-level aunties, but over time, these quirks became endearing, balancing the frenetic energy of market manipulation and backdoor dealings.

BLOSSOMS SHANGHAI is Wong Kar Wai at his absolute best: a pulsating, unforgettable love letter to the city that shaped him, a work of rare, artistic clarity.

It is visually hypnotic, texturally rich, and narratively alive, storytelling that feels like memory, breathing color, ambition, and humanity into 1990s Shanghai, one frame at a time.   

Enjoy!

8.8/10 🍿 🎥

Runtime: 50mins

Episodes: 30

Where: Now Streaming on The Criterion Channel

Blossoms Shanghai (2025) The Richmond Reviewer - January 26th, 2026.

#WongKarWai #BlossomsShanghai #Shanghai #China #ChineseDrama #Criterion #CriterionCollection