A WOMAN, A GUN AND A NOODLE SHOP (China 2009) *
Directed by Zhang Yimou

5th generation Chinese director of such hits like RAISE THE RED LANTERN, TO LIVE, RED SORGHUM and HERO, does an adaptation of the Coen Brother’s BLOOD SIMPLE set in China involving A WOMAN, A GUN AND A NOODLE SHOP.

The basic premise of the plot is identical to BLOOD SIMPLE.  Wang is a miserable yet cunning noodle shop owner in a desert town in China. Feeling neglected, Wang’s wife secretly goes out with Li, one of his employees. A timid man, Li reluctantly keeps the gun the landlady bought for killing her husband later. However, not a single move they make escapes the bosses notice, and he decides to bribe patrol officer Zhang to kill the illicit couple. It looks like a perfect plan but all ends like the Coen Brothers’ film where the officer dies, killed by the lady.

Zhang’s film has a few alterations in the story.  Arrows substitute gun shots.  A gun is still purchased but this is stressed as a new invention in China.  Why is puzzling as Zhang incorporates really stupid, infantile humour in this movie so why try to make the story credible?  The film is not funny, by the way, which indicates that a comedy should be made by one who has a sense of humour, not in the least by one who understands comedy.

As far as this film is concerned, everything is all wrong and this marks Zhang’s worst movie of his, almost as close as his terrible OPERATION COUGAR.  Take the last segment of the film where the patrol officer is finally shot by a gun and lies flat on the ground.  In the original, the girl is trapped in a small room next to the officer. In Zhang’s film, the room is huge, thus removing the claustrophobia and desperation of the situation.  When the man dies in the original, the water from a leaking tap drips drop by drop onto the dying man’s eye, like the old, ancient Chinese torture.  No leaking tap in Zhang’s film, but there is a drop of water (where from?) that appears suddenly and fills the screen.

The Coen Brothers used humour and violence subtly in their movie. In Zhang’s (film), his characters are all screaming at the top of their lungs most of the time.  Still, he tells his story haphazardly, which is surprisingly difficult to follow. 
A characteristic of Zhang’s films – colour, as he was a cinematographer before directing – is still present. The costumes are especially colourful and noticeable.

A WOMAN, A GUN AND A NOODLE SHOP is one whole load of rubbish.  One wonders how awful a film like this could still emerge from one of the most talented directors of today?