A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop (2009) San qiang pai an jing qi (original title)

Director:

Yimou Zhang

Writers:

Jianquan Shi (screenplay) &
Jing Shang (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

11 December 2009 (China)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

The owner of a Chinese noodle shop's scheme to murder his adulterous wife and her lover goes awry. |

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Noodles | Detective | 19th Century | Remake Of American Film

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Honglei Sun	...	Zhang
Xiao Shen-Yang	...	Li
Ni Yan	...	Wang's wife
Dahong Ni	...	Wang
Ye Cheng	...	Zhao
Mao Mao	...	Chen
Benshan Zhao	...	The Captain
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ran Cheng	...	Male Prisoner
Julien Gaudfroy	...	Persian trader
Shuo Huang	...	Male Prisoner
Wenting LI	...	Female Prisoner
Sisi Wang	...	Female Prisoner
Xiaojuan Wang
Na Wei	...	Persian Woman

Directed by
Yimou Zhang

Writing credits
Jianquan Shi		(screenplay) &
Jing Shang		(screenplay)
Ethan Coen		1984 screenplay Blood Simple
Joel Coen		1984 screenplay Blood Simple

Produced by
William Kong	....	producer
Weiping Zhang	....	producer

Original Music by
Lin Zhao

Cinematography by
Xiaoding Zhao		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Peicong Meng

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Vincent Ma	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Steve Burgess	....	sound re-recording mixer
Wei He	....	sound mixer
Hongrui Ji	....	sound effects editor
Peng Jiang	....	sound recordist
Jiajia Mok	....	sound effects editor
Blair Slater	....	foley recordist & editor
Qiuqiu Sun	....	dialogue editor
Jing Tao	....	supervising sound editor
Yijing Zhang	....	sound editor

Visual Effects by
David Chen	....	digital compositor
Yann Doray	....	compositing supervisor
Julie Fischer	....	visual effects producer
Lani Greenhill	....	cg modeler: BlackGinger
Lani Greenhill	....	texture artist: BlackGinger
Marc Horsfield	....	digital effects supervisor
Yanming Jiang	....	visual effects supervisor
Phil Jones	....	visual effects supervisor
Neilan Naicker	....	visual effects: BlackGinger
Gu Pinghu	....	visual effects coordinator
Marco Raposo de Barbosa	....	compositing supervisor
Ashley Ryan	....	digital compositor
George Webster	....	compositing supervisor

Stunts
Hua Cao	....	assistant stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Shaofeng Cheng	....	assistant gaffer
Raymond Lam	....	AR steadicam operator
Raymond Lam	....	camera operator

Other crew
Matt Garner	....	creative consultant

Production Companies

• Beijing New Picture Film Co. (presents)
• Film Partner International (as Film Partner 2009 International) (presents)

Distributors

• Golden Village Pictures (2010) (Singapore) (theatrical)
• Golem Distribución (2010) (Spain) (theatrical)
• Longride (2011) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Mongrel Media (2010) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Sony Pictures Classics (2010) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• EDKO Film (2009) (Hong Kong) (all media)
• IPA Asia Pacific (2010) (Thailand) (all media)
• Odeon (2009) (Greece) (all media)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2011) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Releasing (2011) (Argentina) (all media)
• Sunfilm Entertainment (2011) (Germany) (DVD)
• Teleview International (2009) (Lebanon) (all media) (Middle East)
• Zon Audiovisuais (2013) (Portugal) (all media)

Other Companies

• Dolby Laboratories  sound mix
• Sony  Sony CineAlta cameras supplied by

Also Known As:

"San qiang pai an jing qi" - China (original title)
"A Simple Noodle Story" - Hong Kong (English title), International (English title)
"The First Gun" - International (English title)

MPAA:

Rated R for some violence

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

China | Hong Kong

Language:

Mandarin | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Hong Kong:IIA | Singapore:PG | USA:R (certificate #46214) | Canada:14A (Alberta) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (British Columbia/Ontario) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Japan:G | Portugal:M/16

Company:

Beijing New Picture Film Co.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Special Collector's Edition: Los gemelos golpean dos veces (#3.4)" (2011)

Coen brothers do not translate

Yimou Zhang (Hero, House of Flying Daggers, Curse of the Golden Flower, and the Beijing 2008 Olympics Games Opening Ceremony) does things in a big way. I was interesting to see how he adapts a simple story of love and revenge, the Coen Brothers first film, Blood Simple.

It may be a simple story, but when you add Chinese costumes and brilliant cinematography in the Gobi desert, the simplest film becomes spectacular.

But, that won't save it as a story. Zhang just quite get the hang of the Coen Brothers. Characters come off looking like the Three Stooges.

It is recommended simply to get the great master in action. Watch the original if you want to see an interesting movie.