A Woman, A Gun and a Noodle Shop

A WOMAN, A GUN AND A NOODLE SHOP is a remake of the 1985 directorial debut of Joel and Ethan Coen, BLOOD SIMPLE. Transposing the Coen Brother’s celebrated mix of dark humor and riveting suspense to China, the film is helmed by Zhang Yimou (director of THE RED SORGHUM, TO LIVE, HERO, HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS and other masterpieces), one of the most eminent directors of the Fifth Generation. This black comedy thriller is an expose of how intense desires can consume humanity, and the irony that life never submits to our calculations. Wang is a miserable yet cunning noodle shop owner in a Chinese desert town. Feeling neglected, Wang’s wife secretly goes out with Li, one of his employees. A timid man, Li reluctantly keeps the gun the landlady bought for killing her husband. However, not a single move they make escapes the boss’s notice, and he decides to bribe patrol officer Zhang to kill the illicit couple. It looks like a perfect plan: the affair will come to a cruel but satisfying end, or so he thinks, but the equally wicked Zhang has an agenda of his own that will lead to even more mayhem.

“A richly colored, swiftly-paced Chinese murder-comedy.” (Harvey Karten, Compuserve)