Tizhe xin diaozhe dan

This is what could result if the Coen Brothers replaced Woody Allen as the inspiration for overseas moviemakers. Actually I don't know if they have, or they affected this movie, but the movie suggests it in style. Maybe the movie's rampant humorous situations have domestic antecedents; but nowhere is the authoritative China that usually gets presented.

This is a Chinese "indie" movie with chinese and english subtitles, which I found too small to catch completely sometimes. I liked that some of the characters, like me, were not clear on language... the characters were all backwoods types; think "Raising Arizona" or the like. No baby present, but there was a persistent body to keep track of. I am not a Coen fan myself but this would fit in with that body of work.

Locations were simple and rustic; a bigger budget may not have been better. Acting was good with Ye Gao fabulous as a fearless innkeeper with a fearful husband. His scene plotting murder with the "alternative chinese medicine" seller was hilarious.