Empire of Silver 白銀帝國

The Kangs are bankers in Shanxi Province and owners of the Tian-Cheng-Yuan bank (天成元票號) with branches in Beijing and Shanghai. It controls the finances of the country, much like present day Wall Street, by accepting deposits and conducting fund transfers, but using silver instead of paper money. The current Chairman of the bank is the senior Kang (康老爺), played by veteran actor and writer Tielin Zhang (張鐵林).

He is a very ruthless businessman, and wants his business to be continued the same way by his son and heir, of which he has not one but four. However, due to various accidental occurrences, three of them become unfit, leaving only our protagonist, the third son, capable of undertaking the task. The role of Third Master (三爺) is played by Hong Kong heartthrob, actor and singer Aaron Kwok (郭富城).

Of course, the story isn't that simple, with love & hate problems, rebels, wolves, concubines, murders, suicides, missionaries, and more. There are so many subplots, sometimes it becomes quite difficult to follow what is happening.

This is the first feature film directed by Taiwanese stage director Christina Yao, who also did the screenplay together with author Cheng Yi. Although the costumes and sets are very well done, the movie itself does not flow smoothly from one scene to another.

Those unfamiliar with Chinese history and culture, for instance, might find parts of the film confusing, especially with all the men looking so similar in their little caps and long queues. Even Aaron shaved part of his head and grew a queue for this role, where we see him in clashes with his father. The conflicts arise not only from their very different styles of doing business – the father is heartless, the son is caring – but also their common love interest. Senior Kang married Third Master's only love, the latter's teacher played by Chinese actress Hao Lei (郝蕾). She had shown full frontal nudity in the 2006 controversial film "Summer Palace," causing it to be banned in mainland China.

According to reports, one of Taiwan's richest men, business tycoon Terry Guo (郭台銘), invested about US$9.8 million in this film "about a subject that he knew and was related to his family background" (his parents lived in Shanxi before moving to Taiwan in 1949). He personally selected Hao Lei for the film, but her portrayal of the role is not very convincing.

The movie starts as a story told by Third Master's adopted son, who is actually his little brother and youngest son of the senior Kang from his last wife. Confused? That's just the tip of the iceberg. However, fans of Aaron Kwok, the 2005 and 2006 winner of the Best Actor award in Taiwan's Golden Horse Film Festival, will be quite satisfied with his performance.

As social turmoil and political instability plagues the country, will Third Master be able to take the family business through the difficult times? Will he select the righteous Manager Dai or the subservient Manager Qiu to assist him? The answers are in this quick, but entangled, lesson in Chinese history (in Mandarin with English subtitles).

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