Several asian films are screened at the 60th Berlinale, let’s start with the first reviews of Zhang Yimou’s A Woman, A Gun & A Noodle Shop aka the chinese remake of Coen Bros’ Blood Simple!
@wshed New Zhang Yimou A Woman, A Gun & A Noodle Shop, based on Blood Simple, is traditional comedy fun.. Slapstick w/added murder! #
@chhabs Zhang Yimou’s A Woman, A Gun and A Noodle Shop, homage to 1 of my fav films Coens’ Blood Simple. Awesome fun! #
@Film4 Zhang Yimou’s period remake of Blood Simple is spectacular, if ultimately rather tireseome #
• Press
Aimed primarily at local audiences (…) Zhang’s adaptation is multiplex matinee fare. Audiences oversees might miss the black humour of the original, though, while finding A Woman lacks the flamboyance of Zhang’s earlier films (House Of Flying Daggers, Hero)
…pic is spiced up with some pratfall humor (trimmed in Sony’s international version screened at the Berlinale) and visually enhanced by saturated lensing of the dusty red landscapes that slightly recalls Zhang’s earlier “Hero.” Modest specialized biz looks likely.
If you want a good fix for down-and-dirty behaviour you should surely pay well for the pure stuff, not the imitation knock-off.
With this much less committed film, he may have opened the road to remakes that once more challenge the American supremacy. But this is just a guess. Zhang Yimou is of course a “name,” and (…) a talented filmmaker, but (…) he chose to take a path that unfortunately represents more the goals of the official industry than the more creative trends of Chinese cinema.
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By the way, Zhang Yimou revealed interesting details;
• About the International version
The version of the film screening at the Berlinale, which is showing in competition here, was different from the Chinese version, which apparently contains more dialogue. Zhang said that he, along with U.S. distributor Sony Pictures Classics, decided to shorten the feature for Western audiences. “This is an abridged version (4 min shorter). Some of the humor [in the Chinese version] would probably not translate,” the director said.
• Next project:
…a potentially more controversial film, which looks at China’s more tumultuous recent past. “My next project, which I will begin in April, will be about the Cultural Revolution about young people in love set during that time. It will reflect some of my experiences.”
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