I’m going to raise my hand right here and admit that I was fully caught off guard by the Criterion Channel’s announcement of the streaming debut of Blossoms Shanghai, a new 30-episode series from Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar Wai. Per Wong Kar Wai: “The series captures the vitality of Shanghai’s roaring ’90s, revealing universal human truths about desire and destiny.” Needless to say, the show looks like it has beautiful people and cinematic style to spare, which I absolutely expect from the man who gave us gorgeous classics like In the Mood For Love and Chungking Express.
Beginning on November 24, 2025 the Criterion Channel will exclusively premiere Blossoms Shanghai. Three new episodes will be released on the Channel every Monday night at 8 p.m. ET through the end of January. I know what I’ll be watching this winter!
SYNOPSIS: Blossoms Shanghai is the first original episodic series by legendary filmmaker Wong Kar Wai. An adaptation of Jin Yucheng’s award-winning novel Blossoms, the series chronicles the ascent of self-made millionaire Ah Bao, the Jay Gatsby of Shanghai, during the economic boom that followed the opening of the Shanghai stock exchange. The major Chinese actor Hu Ge stars as Bao, personifying the idealism and adventurism that defined the 1990s. While In the Mood for Love pays tribute to the Shanghainese community in Hong Kong, Blossoms Shanghai is Wong Kar Wai’s first attempt to tell a story about his birthplace, at one of the most intriguing moment in its recent memory.
