A Woman, A Gun, and a Noodle Shop

2009 remake of the last movie I wrote about

Rating: 15/20

Plot: See Blood Simple right below this movie write-up.

I'm really not sure if this could have worked, actually worked, or never had a chance to work. Regardless, I picked this up because I like titles that have commas in them, saw that Yimou Zhang directed it which probably explained all the colors on the dvd box, noticed that it was a remake of Blood Simple, and instantly fell in love with it. I read about it a bit and obviously watched Blood Simple again before I watched this. I got a little scared after noticing that people don't really seem to like the movie very much. And after a Rawhide-esque title sequence and some amazing swordplay from a flamboyant Persian with a handlebar mustache, I wasn't sure what people could possibly hate about this. The style in the opening scenes was just as flamboyant as the Persian with its phallic cannons, bullet forging, gun twirling, and the ridiculous amount of colors that you'd expect from a Zhang flick. And then there is a jaw-dropping dough-juggling expedition that forced me to hop off the couch, fist-bump like a mo-fo, and then walk next door to pound on my neighbor Carl's door until he woke up so that I could tell him about it. Carl was not amused. This is a gorgeous movie, all those colors and bluer skies than even God could create. The cinematography is stunning, one of the best images being some approaching blue police on horses against a background of orangish-brown cliff. Speaking of those police--there are police "sirens" in this, these twirly things on sticks that make a whirring noise when pushed through the air. Do those actually exist? They struck me as funny. I could have done without all the time-lapse stuff which was a bit overdone, but I could watch slow-motion arrows going through things all day. It was a lot of fun watching this almost immediately after the Coens' version of the story to see some clever parallels--the detective's lighter, a reach for a gun, blood dripping from a hand. There are a lot of differences, too, including one gruesome addition that takes place at the burial site. There are also a couple other characters that didn't factor into the original at all. This doesn't handle the dark comedy nearly as delicately, and there's an almost alarming contrast between the comedy--which here is more slapsticky and goofy--and the drama. The Coens are masters at blending comedy and shocking violence. It doesn't really translate well here. The climax of this one also isn't nearly as elegantly gritty as what we get in Blood Simple although I was amazed at how long this could go without dialogue. Most offensive to a lot of people who didn't care for this remake nearly as much as I did was probably Zhang's attempt to pay homage to the great final shot in Blood Simple. The attempt to duplicate that doesn't work at all; in fact, it's really really stupid. Still, despite this movie's flaws, I think this was an interesting concept that was nearly executed brilliantly, and I'd have a hard time imagining why fans of both Blood Simple and the work of Yimou Zhang wouldn't appreciate it.