-By Doris Toumarkine

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Zhang Yimou, with such films as Raise the Red Lantern, Red Sorghum and House of Flying Daggers behind him, certainly has his fans stateside, Sony Pictures Classics being foremost among them. Demonstrating the loyalty to its filmmakers that is its trademark, SPC, whose executives have a long history with Zhang’s films, will also have to demonstrate some marketing finesse with A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop, a Grand Guignol, operatic spectacle of greed, murder and revenge set many centuries ago (the time is never specified) in a barren and remote Chinese desert outpost.

Although Noodle Shop shares the premise and some stylistic strengths with the Coen Brothers’ breakthrough Blood Simple—the basic story of serial destruction in the boonies, the minimalistic setting and sound design, and the visual idiosyncrasies of close-ups and stylized camera angles—Zhang’s take presents a challenge for audiences.

What mainly sinks this effort is Zhang’s off-putting conceit to tell his tale with one-dimensional characters, in broad cartoon strokes of an alienating place and time. While the exotic desert landscapes, vast skies of bountiful clouds and full moons, and impressive costumes command attention, Noodle Shop provides no cultural, historic or dramatic ballast to anchor and engage Western viewers.

Rather, Zhang travels back centuries to a lonely noodle shop in desolate Western China, where creepy, stingy shop owner Wang’s (Ni Dahong) younger, attractive wife (Yan Ni) purchases a gun from a Persian trader passing through the region. Soon after, Wang learns to his profound dismay that his unnamed wife is carrying on with goofy, wimpy employee Li (Xiao Shenyang).

Early on, in the film’s most stunning and circus-like scene, Li, with shop colleagues Zhao (Cheng Ye), a chubby buffoon, and the simple waitress Chen (Mao Mao), shows off his amazing skill of turning and twirling pounds of dough into the broad noodles that are main ingredient of the shop’s mouth-watering soup. The meal has the local cops slurping away and will have audiences almost capture the aroma. Wang soon engages one of them, patrol officer Zhang (Sun Hunglei), to kill his wife and Li for a tidy sum that requires considerable negotiating.

Wang believes the plan to be the perfect crime, as he’ll simply say the couple ran off together. And with law enforcer Zhang the real killer, no one will ever suspect foul play.

Zhang, no angel himself, agrees to the deal but, leaving the illicit couple unharmed, shows Wang some ripped-up, bloody clothing to prove the task done. In possession of the wife’s gun, the officer shoots Wang and attempts to open his safe. But suspecting a presence nearby, he flees, leaving behind the gun.

Meanwhile Zhao, who reminds waitress Chen that Wang owes them back wages, breaks into Wang’s safe. Li discovers Wang’s body, but when he tries to bury it, he realizes Wang is alive.

Beautifully shot on HD, A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop has fine production values, including intriguing sets and those barren, rocky, otherworldly locations. There’s some fancy swordplay and nifty special effects that contribute to the above-par visual design. Audio too is special: Music is credited but only remembered as playing under end credits, as Zhang prefers to heighten sound effects and sounds of nature.