Black Coal, Thin Ice (Bai ri yan huo)

  • TCFF14 Features/Black-Coal
  • TCFF14 Features/Black-Coal
  • TCFF14 Features/Black-Coal
  • TCFF14 Features/Black-Coal
  • TCFF14 Features/Black-Coal
  • TCFF14 Features/Black-Coal
  • TCFF14 Features/Black-Coal

Showings

Milliken at the Dennos Museum Wed, Jul 30, 2014 9:00 PM
Sponsored by:
Mary & Stephen Tuttle
Film Info
Section:Foreign
Release Year:2014
Runtime:106 min.
Rating:NR
Production Country:China
Hong Kong
Original Language:Mandarin
Subtitles:1
Cast/Crew Info
Cast:Liao Fan
Gwei Lun Mei
Wang Xuebing
Wang Jingchun
Yu Ailei
Ni Jingyang
Director:Diao Yinan
Produced by:Vivian Qu
Screenwriter:Diao Yinan
Cinematography:Dong Jinsong
Editing By:Yang Hongyu
Music By:Wen Zi

Description

Heads up, noir fans—this one should be first on your list. Moody with working-class despair, encroaching danger, and pulp romantic fatalism, and set in a wintry industrial city in Northern China, the top prize winner from this year’s Berlin Film Festival is a powerfully controlled detective thriller with no heroes and no villains. Five years after a tragically botched arrest attempt of a suspect implicated in the grisly discovery of dismembered human remains, an alcoholic ex-detective now working security in a coal factory begins the old investigation anew when more body parts are found. A knotty plot rewards mystery buffs’ concentrated efforts, and features a plethora of sublime cinematic moments: a shootout the likes of which you’ve never seen; a dazzling tracking shot that moves the story from 1999 to 2004; and a perfect, absurdist unexpected ending.