San qiang pai an jing qi

A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop is acclaimed director Yimou Zhank's satire of the Coen Brothers' satire of film noir, Blood Simple. Although I am not a fan of Chinese humor because of its reliance on slapstick and hyperbole, it is filmed with a visual richness that Yimou has made his signature.

Older husband abuses younger wife, who is being adulterous with a handsome, cowardly servant. Her purchasing a gun sets in motion a series of revenge activities that flesh out the Coen's title.

The magnified close-ups and slow motion sequences accompanied by dazzling colors make a satisfying visual experience if the humor is just not that humorous.

'A WOMAN, A GUN AND A NOODLE SHOP': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

Chinese remake of the Coen brothers first film 'BLOOD SIMPLE', this one is set in 19th century China as opposed to 1980's Texas. The film is directed by Yimou Zhang (who directed such popular and critical acclaimed films as 'HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS', 'HERO' and 'CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER') and it's quite a departure from his older work. Zhang says 'BLOOD SIMPLE' is one of his favorite films and claims the Coens wrote to him after seeing his version and expressed how much they loved it. It's written by Jianquan Shi and Jing Shang and stars Ni Yan, Honglei Sun, Xiao Shen-Yang and Dahong Ni.

The original Chinese title of the film is 'A SIMPLE NOODLE STORY', it was changed to 'A WOMAN, A GUN AND A NOODLE SHOP' for it's international release. It's set in a small desert town where a man named Wang (Ni) runs a successful noodle shop. He purchased his young beautiful wife (Yan) several years earlier and beats her every night. His wife is having an affair with a servant at the noodle shop named Li (Shen-Yang) and when Wang finds out about the affair things get ugly. Wang enlists the help of a local police detective (Sun) to help him carry out a plan of revenge. Things of course become complicated and bloody.

The film is an odd mix of dark action thriller and screwball comedy. The slapstick jokes aren't exactly my taste in humor but the action scenes are cool and the suspense is intense. It does drag on a little here and there but for the most part the action / crime drama aspect of the film is effective. It's also often visually stunning with plenty of beautiful scenery and elaborate effects. It's not nearly as epic and breathtaking as Zhang's other films but I think it's a nice surprise change for him. By no means is it great or as classic as the original, of course, but it's still a remake worth checking out.

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I saw this film as a love song to the Coen brothers for their wry comedy _oeuvre_. Much like you can see _O Brother_ as a love song to country/bluegrass music; the Coens clearly are highly sophisticated musically, and can work their magic around this framework into a superb film.

Note that it is _not_ a remake; _Blood Simple_ is hardly a comedy by any measure. It was just a starting point for Yang to hang his comedy on. And what a comedy it is! Elements of traditional Chinese film comedy: the slapstick, including the bumpkin assistant Zhao with the buck teeth; the hapless Li who finally finds his gumption; the remarkable acrobatics shots with the noodle preparation; the spunky little ingénue.

The whole extended mime sequence near the end is pure Coen. The characters are gently satirized via their idiosyncratic behavior in the face of incongruous events (think Jeff Bridges in _Lebowski_.) Zhang shows us the universality of this kind of humor, born of Keaton in the silent era.

Highly recommended!

Who would have thought that Zhang Yimou, once art house darling and for trying too hard at the martial arts genre, could be capable of pulling off an all-out, slapstick black comedy with A Woman, A Gun and A Noodle Shop? It certainly took my by surprise, and showed that he's more than willing and capable of stepping outside his comfort zone, to remake what's essentially The Coen Brother's Blood Simple, albeit set in a period Chinese era and in context as well, with the bar in an unnamed Texas town becoming a noodle shop out in a desert.

And paying homage to The Coens isn't just the only one here. Curiously, the finale sequence was very similar to how Danny Boyle decided to end Slumdog Millionaire, with an out of place song and dance sequence that became more absurd as the clip ticked by. Serving little purpose other than to get everyone lip sync, dance, spin some dough, break the 4th fall and essentially telling us that everyone had a swell time making the film, I thought this could be done without since the end was quite pitch perfect.

Beginning with an introduction to the important plot element of introducing a gun into the story, a group of Persian merchants come into Wang's (Ni Dahong) noodle shop to sell some wares, and ultimately Wang's Wife (Yan Ni) decides to buy a three-barrelled gun. Nobody knows what for, and a cannon demonstration brings forth the local police, whose chief investigator Zhang (Sun Honglei) gets engaged in an expensive scheme by Wang to finish off his adulterous wife and her lover, employee Li (Xiao Shen-Yang). But of course things never go according to plan, especially when everyone has their own agenda, and it becomes one heck of a comedic blood bath with motivations questioned, and you the audience left wondering just how everyone will get out of this mess.

Zhang Yimou once again goes for very saturated colour schemes for his films, from the rich blues of the skies to the orange-brown sands of the desert land, and this time too keeping his characters in single-toned striking colours. If anyone doubts the director in being able to helm a comedy, the opening scene itself will allay those fears, and indeed much of the physical comedy come thanks to the wonderful casting, especially that of the two bumbling shop assistants caught up in the complicated events only because they're looking toward settling their back pay.

It highlights how men become easily tempted by money, the root of all evil, when faced with bucket-loads of them, and how coincidences play a huge part in getting the characters where they end up, with each unfortunate moment ending in becoming a corpse (yes, there will be blood, and death) in a seemingly convoluted narrative that has to be seen to be believed the kind of rich writing which can pull it off. But what I enjoyed more, is how modern day devices are given the old fashioned treatment, such as the police "siren" - horse mounted and wind-generated - and a combination lock, designed with an abacus, no less!

A Woman, A Gun and A Noodle Shop may seem like a less than epic film from Zhang Yimou, but it sure is a lot of fun delivered by its outstanding casting who seem all too comfortable in dishing out black and physical humour. Recommended, just so you know that the director has the bandwidth to do a lot more than what his filmography thus far has pigeon-holed him into.

It starts just as a spaghetti western, but then comes a parody of spaghettis and samurai films with minimal use of dialogue and excessive extravaganza of imagery. While the scope of the film seems unbelievable, a little, simple story revolving some stupid stereotypes is going on. Starting with buying an imported gun, the premise recalls the emergence of modernism in traditional, moralist society as it happens in too many samurai ventures, but the concept is contrarily based on the consequences of reliance on such bad habits as greed and jealousy. Not as promising as his RAISE THE RED LANTERN and JU DUO, not inspiring as his LA VIE and HERO, Zhang Yimou's A WOMAN, A GUN AND A NOODLE SHOP is an eccentric experience by a cineaste assumed as a master: crazy, wild and frantic, but not trying to tell a story in the size of epic