Mandarin with English subtitles

14A - Violence.

Set in a small desert town in Northern China and full of intense color, overblown characters and eccentric costumes, A WOMAN, A GUN AND A NOODLE SHOP is a uniquely entertaining remake of the Coen brothers’ defining debut, BLOOD SIMPLE. Director Zhang Yimou (TO LIVE, HERO, HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS), one of the preeminent directors in China’s “Fifth Generation,” transposes the Coens’ celebrated mix of dark humor and riveting suspense to China—along with an added dash of slapstick silliness.

Wang is the gloomy and cunning owner of the noodle shop owner where he, his wife and his employees all live. Feeling neglected, Wang’s wife secretly goes out with Li, one of the shop’s employees. This infidelity does not escape Wang’s notice, and he decides to bribe patrol officer Zhang to kill the 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 violence.

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