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FeedMovie Review: A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop
Films opening this week:
Buried - Market Arcade Dipson
L'Arnacoeur - Eastern Hills Dipson
Jackass 3 - Maple Ridge; Market Arcade; Elmwood, Transit, Galleria, Hollywood, Quaker Regals; Flix; Transit Drive-In
N-Secure - Market Arcade; Elmwood, Transit, Galleria Regals
Red - Maple Ridge; Market Arcade; Elmwood, Transit, Galleria, Hollywood, Quaker Regals; Flix; Transit Drive-In
The Tillman Story - Eastern Hills Dipson
Waiting for Superman - Amherst Dipson
A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop - North Park Dipson
A prolific director in China, Yimou Zhang found an audience in America with the wonderful Hero and his follow-up House of Flying Daggers. Curse of the Golden Flower came next with more stunning visuals, but its lackluster storyline that left me cold and uninterested.
But then he decided to do something completely out of left field. Pushing the serious, feudal artistry of wire-work battles and large-scale wars to the side, he instead chose to remake the debut film of the Coen Brothers, Blood Simple., this time set the Gansu province, right on the cusp of gunpowder’s introduction to society. Zhang, looking to possibly break free of epic mode, took their script and infused more absurdity than perhaps was needed. San qiang pai an jing qi [A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop] is very much a faithful adaptation, except that humor trumps drama.
As the film opens, a Persian has arrived to show the wife of Wang (Dahong Ni)—owner of the titular noodle shop—his wares. Demonstrating the precision of his swords to her (Ni Yan) and the bumbling employees at work (Xiao Shen-Yang’s Li, Ye Cheng’s Zhao, and Mao Mao’s Chen), he talks Wang’s wife into a three-barreled revolver. She then requests a demonstration of the Persian’s cannon. The blast from its explosion brings the police to their little shop, and the presence of the authorities shakes Li to his core—he has been having an affair with Wang’s wife.
Chief Detective Zhang (Honglei Sun) soon stops by to tell Wang about his wife's relationship with Li, and accepts a bribe to murder both Wang’s wife and her boyfriend, making it appear as though they left town for good.
All the twists and turns from Blood Simple are included, but while that film had an edge of suspense, here tension is constantly subverted with slapstick and exaggerated performances. Both Sun and Ni are superb in their cold-blooded, calculating roles, supposedly the intelligent orchestrators who have everything under control.And Yan as Wang’s wife does well to balance the line of authenticity. But Shen-Yang’s Li fails in his attempts to walk the tightrope of comedy and tragedy.
To make room for the comedy, the screenwriters do a fine job excising a portion of the original; the changes made are crucial, and I applaud them for the maneuvering. Having the private detective role change to an actual corrupt police officer is a welcome alteration too, lending more severity to the actions and need for flawless cover-up. There’s some frame-for-frame homage throughout, including blood dripping from a man’s hand, the pat of a shovel on the dirt of a fresh grave, and the rays of light shining through the recently made holes in a wall. In the end, A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop is an amusing companion piece to its predecessor.
But, as with many American remakes of classic foreign films, I question whether it was necessary. The cultural chasm may have failed to translate comedy that is successful in China, but I can’t help think how much better this film would have been had it stayed true to the drama of the first.
San qiang pai an jing qi [A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop] 6/10
photography:
[1] Left to Right: Yan Ni as Wang’s wife and Ni Dahong as Wang. Photo by Bai Xiaoyan, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics
[2] Yan Ni as Wang’s wife. Photo by Bai Xiaoyan, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics
