Strange Trailer for Zhang's 'Blood Simple' Remake

There was a lot of outrage when it was announced that there would be a remake of Blood Simple, the breakthrough film from the Coen Brothers, even though the new version was being directed by Zhang Yimou, who is at least on the same level as the Coens, if not a better director. I cautioned the naysayers - as I always do with movies that are transported to different cultures - that you really have no idea what that kind of remake will be like. Take Kurosawa's Macbeth adaptation, Throne of Blood or the master's Ran, an appropriation of King Lear (he's now in the Shakespeare Hall of Fame, incidentally). A good story is a good story, and if you're careful enough or inventive enough in the re-telling, there's no issue with trying to breathe new life into it. As you will see from the first trailer for Zhang's film, retitled The First Gun - also referred to as Three Guns - it bears very few physical similarities to Blood Simple. Even if not for the Chinese dialogue, there's no way you'd identify this as having anything to do with Joel and Ethan Coen. Now, the trailer is terribly manic, and that could just be the way it's edited and might not have any real relevance to the film itself. But is this just some retread of a great movie? Sure doesn't look like it. I'll admit, I can't make heads or tails of what's really happening in that trailer. And because it's not an American trailer, it's certainly not assembled to our tastes. But Zhang Yimou isn't a director to take lightly, he does have experience with comic undertones (Happy Times and Keep Cool from about a decade ago), and he certainly knows spectacle. His superb Olympic opening ceremony production earned him runner-up honors for Time Person of the Year last year.

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[NightWalker]

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