Zhang Yimou Remakes Coen's Classic

Published on November 18, 2009 by Martyn Conterio · View Comments

three guns They’ve been directing films since 1984’s neo-noir thriller Blood Simple, but it shows their current standing in the film world Chinese cinema legend – Zhang Yimou – chooses to adapt their own debut feature.

The director of Raise the Red Lantern, Hero and Curse of the Golden Flower has completed his latest flick – The First Gun – whose plot loosely follows the Coens classic tale of adultery and murder in small town America.

Yimou is known for his operatic style and lush cinematography, so it remains to be seen how much of the Coens original is left in. The American brothers have, in the past, tread into remake territory themselves with the disappointing The Ladykillers. Will they be receiving a taste of their medicine? Not likely. Zhang Yimou is one of China’s premier filmmakers with a legion of admirers behind him. Hollywood is well known for its lacklustre remakes of foreign language titles, so it cannot grumble too much.

The international trailer has hit the web. The film noir aspects of Blood Simple seem to have been utterly discarded. Given Yimou’s standing on the film festival circuit, expect to see The First Gun in the near future.