A Woman, A Gun And A Noodle Shop | DVD Review

In somewhat of a reversal of the trend of Hollywood remaking Asian films (see Ringu -> The Ring, Infernal Affairs -> The Departed, A Tale of Two Sisters -> The Uninvited, etc.), Oscar-nominated Chinese director Zhang Yimou (Hero, House of Flying Daggers takes on the Coen Brothers’ 1984 directorial debut, Blood Simple, in the Sony Pictures Classics release A Woman, A Gun and a Noodle Shop, just out on DVD. But where Blood Simple is a dark and blackly comic thriller, Zhang’s film is a decidedly lighter – literally and figuratively – affair.

After finding out his cheating young wife, (Ni Yan, Kung Fu Dunk) has bought a gun in order to kill him, an old and wily noodle shop owner, Wang (Ni Dahong, Curse of the Golden Flower), hires greedy patrol officer Zhang (Sun Honglei, Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan) to murder her and her lover Li (Xiao Shen-Yang). Just as in the Coens’ film, though, all is not as it seems and jealousy and greed set the stage for a frantic 90 minutes of comedic mayhem and stylized violence. A Woman, A Gun and a Noodle Shop may not be grounbreaking in terms of its originality – it is a remake, after all – but the performances are solid if not noteworthy, and the mischief and action propel the film through its manageable running time without ever waning.

But the slapstick antics of the cast, charming as they may be, play second fiddle to the visual aesthetic of director Zhang – who also directed the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics – and his crew. Set in the desert province of Gansu in an unknown time many years before ours, Zhang employs bold and vivid colors and luscious wide tracking shots to depict the loneliness of the desolate and sunny town where the noodle shop is located. Never has a filmmaker used color and scenery in a movie quite like Zhang Yimou. As in Hero, Ju Dou, and just about every film he’s ever made, the backgrounds and sets are characters unto themsleves, as integral to the film as the characters who walk and talk across them.

As mentioned, visually, A Woman, A Gun and a Noodle Shop is a stunner. The 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen image allows the breathtaking scenery to draw the viewer in, hooking us with the vivid primary colors and bold hues that seem to be the norm in a Zhang Yimou film. The audio presentation, hard-pressed to live up to the standard of the visuals, holds its own. The sound of dough flying through the air as the workers prepare the noodles is so realistic and crisp that you’d swear you’re about to be served a bowl of fresh noodles.

As for special features, the DVD has 19 featurettes (see listing above) that can be viewed individually or in “Play All” mode, making for a fascinating two-hour documentary on the making of the film. With a good portion of it dedicated to pre-production, which Zhang managed to work on while also serving as director/consultant on the 60th anniversary of communism celebration at Tiananmen Square, it offers a glimpse into just how hands-on the director is in the creation of one of his pictures. Compulsory viewing for anyone interested in what it takes to get a film made, from conception right up to the actual filming.

Wildly different in tone than his own previous films, let alone the Coen Brothers’ source material, Zhang Yimou’s A Woman, A Gun and a Noodle Shop employs an odd mix of broad comedy, frenetic action, and Zhang’s familiar visual aesthetic. Somehow it manages to fit nicely together into a popcorn flick with flair, albeit one that will never be mistaken for a masterpiece. Well worth seeing, especially for the two-hour documentary on the making of the film masquerading as 19 individual featurettes.

Movie rating – 3

Disc Rating – 4