Zhang Yimou oin his Remake of the Coen Brothers Blood Simple
I love all the works by the Coen Brothers. Some twenty years ago at a film festival, I saw their directorial debut "Blood Simple," which left me with a great impression. The film keeps coming back to my mind, although I haven’t seen it for a second time.
One day, a curious idea struck me: what would it be like if Blood Simple was made as a Chinese story? That was how "A Woman, A Gun and a Noodle Shop" began to take shape.
I gave the remake a rich Chinese flavor, casting Xiao Shenyang – a young comic actor who recently shot to fame in China – to add in a sense of farcical humor at the beginning. The fun soon turns into riveting suspense. I also adopted the aesthetic style of the old Chinese opera piece, San Cha Kou. The result is the confinement of all the characters within the same space, each of them shifting roles with one another and making similar mistakes. This lays bare the absurdity of life – something ironically repetitive, always beyond our control.
I would like to thank all of the actors for their wonderful performances. I truly appreciate the effort and commitment of every member of the crew.
