A Simple Noodle Story

Sense of humour taken from Stephen Chow kung-fu mythical nonsense comedies of the early 90's, visual flair taken from Wong Kar Wai's Ashes of Time and script originally written by Coen bros. Result? A mess that is neither funny of interesting nor good. Production values are good, but fuck, I'm disappointed with you, Yimou...

I always wondered what Blood Simple would look like as a shrill-pitched, flamboyant, bloated farce. Did I say always? Sorry, I meant never. I guess America no longer has the monopoly on unnecessary remakes.

Blood Simple remade as a slapstick set in period China doesn't even SOUND like a good idea. The tone shifts between manic, annoying farce and rather dull crime drama. What works are the twisty plot points lifted from the original. What doesn't work is just about everything else. The visuals are occasionally dazzling, but their appeal wears off after a while, especially as overly flashy shots keep alternating with drab scenes in the noodle shop cellar. Stick with the Coens.

Okay, so I get that the Asians want to give the Americans a taste of their own medicine of the shitty remakes-brand, but how about giving us Europeans a heads-up next time? We're in the book.

The costumes and cinematography are colorful and diverting, the cultural transplant of an American story into a Chinese setting is intriguing, the director is one of the true giants of our time, but the resulting film feels rather slight, tossed off. Here's hoping that Zhang puts out some meatier work soon.

The ending feels tossed off, but perhaps that's due to the Coens' delivery being better in almost every way. If it wasn't for a few annoying characters, and a very silly opening, this more comedic offering would have went down smoother. The minimal use of dialogue in the midsection and constantly attractive cinematography are what make it stand out in comparison. While not numbering among my favorites, the consensus of reactions (from what I can tell, either indifferent or negative) perplexes me

As a fan of Shaw Brothers and Stephen Chow films, I figured this would be right up my alley. While the costumes are fine, and Zhang's use of beautiful landscapes is still masterful, this was just a bit too absurdist for me to rate any better than average. It felt like we were watching the same, fairly obvious, joke played over and over.

i thoroughly enjoyed this film. it's pretty sad to see so many uptight, pompous film dorks can't relax and enjoy a beautifully shot remake of the coen bros first film. some of you cinephiles need to pull the stick out.

It would actually be less kitschy if the cast were comprised of John Waters, Elvira, Pee-Wee Herman and RuPaul.

While the comedy fell flat the rest of the picture and most of the acting was great. Yimou Zhang is known for having beautiful cinematography in his films and this one doesn't disappoint.

49.500

"From one great director to another, a Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop pays tribute to the Coens by improving their earlier immature work."

"When did Zhang Yimou start acting like Jean-Pierre Jeunet?" - Nick Schager

One of the most beautiful movies I have seen. A great re-imagining of 'Blood Simple' by the Coen Bros.

"Most will find Noodle all wet-limp, if you will- in Yimou's apparent choice to remake Blood Simple in the style of Raising Arizona."

Slapstick buffoonery with lots of flash. Zhang's fondness for the Coens is apparent. It also seems to be channeling Chinese opera, which I've been told is intentionally nutty and over the top. The midsection completely absent of dialogue was phenomenal. Some might find this shrill, and at times it gets a little too kitschy for its own good, but the overall negative reaction to this movie baffles me. Perhaps I like slapstick more than most...

It tries way too hard to be something fantastic and that way it ends up being anything but. Grotesque acting which you can like or not, and a weak plot in my opinion (that probably is from Blood Simple, which I haven't seen). All in all there are some laughs, but it's just too much of an indiferent freak show played out in a - admittedly - unbelievably beautiful scene.

The visuals were great. Otherwise, I wasn't remotely impressed by this. The acting was terrible, the pacing was bad, and the editing was wretched.

Dull dull dull. I turned it off halfway through, so MAYBE it gets awesome, but I didn't care anymore.