Well tickle me pink and dip me in sugar! Here is a remake I can get excited about. Iconic Chinese director (enough that the Chinese government ignored all of his anti-Chinese government films and asked him to do the Beijing opening Ceremonies for the last Olympic Games) Zhang Yimou is probably best known in pop-culture circles for the sleeper hit Hero (released 2 years or so late, but still finding success on this side of the pond) and House of Flying Daggers from a few years ago; but to cineastes as the director of Raise the Red Lantern, To Live, Shanghai Triad and Red Sorghum.
Earlier this month he started shooting his first film since the middle-of-the-road (but stunning looking) Curse of the Golden Flower, and that film is a remake of the Coen Brothers’ debut neo-noir, Blood Simple! Titled San Qiang Pai An Jing Qi, (basic translation: “The Stunning Case of the Three Gun Shots.”) it is in the midst of filming at the moment, but no word who is in the Frances McDormand, M. Emmet Walsh, Dan Hedaya or John Getz roles. All four are quite iconic noir types, so lots of room to work with this one.
Nice to see that Zhang Yimou has gotten away from the art-wuxia films he as been doing for the better part of the decade, and into something (hopefully) a bit more intimate and smaller in scope (perhaps meeting halfway between House of Flying Daggers and Riding Alone for 1000 Miles).
Boy am I curious too…I list Yimou as one of my favourite directors (Curse has been the only one so far that has disappointed me), so even though I don’t think Blood Simple needs a remake (it’s damn wellperfect as is) I’m really curious as to what he’ll do with it.
To Live is brilliant and I love the low key Not One Less and The Road Home as well.
Also a big Yimou fan (and also didn’t care for Curse of the Golden Flower).
The Story of Qiu Ju
At first glance, Zhang Yimou’s The Story of Qiu Ju appears to show a positive image of Chinese government, since the government officials are shown to listen and try to resolve the people’s problem. Even Wang Shantang- the village official that kicks Qiu’s husband in the private- is shown in positive light, since he is shown to be fair and not being a character with no redeeming qualities. Much of the satire of the film appears to be label strictly at modern Chinese culture, specifically the remote rural peasants’ area. The satire stems from the lunacy and illogical adventure that Qiu undergoes in order to gain an apology from Wang. Qiu’s comedic, bizarre quest appears to be a satire on Chinese emphasis on not being able to commit act that will lower themselves into others and in the process loss credibility.
The film ends up critiquing the Chinese government following a postmodern critique. The theme of the film is for Chinese people to be more open in apologizing and criticism even if it hurts the individual credibility by admitting to being wrong. Well, the film’s theme ends up becoming a postmodern critique of the government, since in real life the Chinese government has a censorship that is similar to Wang’s and Qiu’s characteristics that are critique in the film. The Chinese government is known to widely censor anything that it deems to be a threat to the government and the nation. For example, the Chinese government force the filmmakers to make an alternating since the original ending is had the criminals winning. The government censorship parallels Wang and Qiu vices, since they fear losing credibility. The “meta” approach is the only manner, in which Zhang could of critique the government without being censor; if Zhang would of being less subtle in his critique, the film would had in all likelihood be banned or force to be alter in mainland China. The inability to be unable to critique the openly critique the government is evident in the short segment that deals with writing grievance to the government. The segment shows that criticism to the government has to done in subtle way, since the blatant criticism result to death. The segment was probably not censor in China, for the reason that the film does not dwell upon it, while also being done in a comedic manner which reduces the serious consequences of the act.
Besides its subtle, “meta” critique and examination of the government, the film does openly show many aspects relating to the government. Qiu’s journey show that the government is hierarchically organized in a top-down manner; the people start their grievances at the bottom level and are allowed to appeal the ruling by hierarchically moving to a higher level. The decisions are shown to be follow be top down, since the lower official cannot have to follow the directions from higher level officials. For instance, every time Qiu manages to win a verdict from higher up officials, Wang has to strictly follow the instructions lied out by the higher ups. The film also shows that the government has a big say on daily life’s the citizens. This is evident in the small industry that develops surrounding grievance petitions ranging from letter writings to low run motels.