1st Look at Blood Simple Remake, 'Three Guns'!

When I first heard that Zhang Yimou was remaking the Coen Bros. directorial debut, Blood Simple, I thought that there was absolutely zero chance it'd be at all faithful to the source material. Zhang Yimou is the guy who directed House of Flying Daggers a few years ago, one of the most beautiful, operatic films of the last few years. He also directed the great Jet Li classic(in my opinon anyway), Hero. Yimou is known for his beautiful cinematography and set design, and his films are always heavily thematic. That's why I knew this would be a remake in theme only, because his style in comparison to the Coens' is vastly different.

For those that don't remember, Blood Simple was the Coens' noir thriller from back in 1985. It detailed the story of a husband who hires a detective to murder his cheating wife and her love. What was supposed to be a simple plan devolves into a convoluted, bloody mess. I remember not liking the film all that much at first, probably because I was too young to understand it, but it's really kindof a quiet gem to me nowadays. Taking a look at these shots from Yimou's remake, titled Three Guns, I can see that I was right about it not being faithful at all. The story takes place in a noodle shop rather than a mangy old bar, and it appears to be more of a period piece. Not that it matters, the shots are beautiful as expected. Consider this one of the movies I'll be following closely from here on out.






Slashfilm has more on the story here.