Black Coal, Thin Ice

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Black Coal, Thin Ice

2014

1h 46m

Crime

Drama

Mystery & Thriller

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Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

96%

Tomatometer

26 Reviews

61%

Popcornmeter

500+ Ratings

Two former cops start investigating the series of murders that tanked their careers when the killings begin again.

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Tara Brady

Irish Times

Black Coal, Thin Ice twists and turns as it goes: even the jolting electronic music over the end credits springs another surprise.

Rated: 4/5

Jun 13, 2015

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David Ehrlich

Little White Lies

Maybe the angriest movie from mainland China since Li Yang's Blind Mountain.

Rated: 5/5

Jun 5, 2015

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Kate Muir

Times (UK)

What's fascinating is not merely the plot, but the wonderfully shot background, red and green neon on a grey townscape.

Rated: 4/5

Jun 4, 2015

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Dustin Chang

Floating World

Diao's China, the Beijing Olympics still 4 years away, is still very much provincial ("Who brought in a horse in my apartment?"), yet fast changing and cold-hearted. The film announces the arrival of another major auteur in Chinese cinema.

Feb 21, 2021

Full Review

Panos Kotzathanasis

Asian Movie Pulse

"Black Coal, Thin Ice" is a great art-house noir that thrives on both contextual and visual level, with the awards it received being utterly justified.

Dec 20, 2020

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Nicholas Bell

IONCINEMA.com

Bleak but superbly moody, Diao Yinan's Black Coal, Thin Ice is an exciting homage to classic American film noir from a completely unexpected source, and much more intelligent than the simplicity of its title indicates.

Rated: 4/5

Oct 20, 2020

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Sarfaraz A

Diao Yinan wrote and directed the Chinese criminal thriller. Starring Liao Fan and Gwei Lun-mei. The film earned the Golden Bear award at the Berlin International Film Festival. The movie begins in 1999, when the mutilated body of someone is discovered at a coal mining site. The film then continues in 2004, when similar instances recur and detective Liao pursues a woman who works at a laundry shop and was the wife of the man whose mutilated body was discovered. The film is lengthy. The photography is magnificent, with strong performances from the lead actors. Gwei devoured the film with her attractiveness, while Liao with his obsession. However, although being incredibly intriguing, the criminal plot was ultimately unsatisfactory at the climax.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

04/12/25

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b s

上‘黑色电影牃的课，没有榫到这一个片子，飞机上看了一下，璐逊于其它的电影。如果杜琪暱的电影被称之为九龙黑色电影，那么这个很配得上一个东北黑色电影的名号。非常有一种怀旧縼格之下的乱世氛围。但缺点也有，线索凌乱的像廉价衣服上的线头，女主角发挥空间有限等等。

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/25/25

Full Review

Liam D

A well acted and written mystery is both engrossing and disturbing

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

09/20/22

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richard i

Feels deeply symbolic, though of what is probably part of its mystery, but ultimately as a detective story, pretty as it looks and darkly humorous as it is at times, it ends up rather dragging.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This is a bit of a mixed bag. There is plenty to admire but for me it does not quite know how to end. Vivid portrayal of misogyny.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/16/23

Full Review

Audience Member

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Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/22/23

Full Review

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Diao Yinan

Director

Fan Liao

Zhang Zili

Lun-Mei Gwei

Wu Zhizhen

Xuebing Wang

Liang Zhijun

Jingchun Wang

Rong Rong

Diao Yinan

Screenwriter

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Synopsis

Two former cops start investigating the series of murders that tanked their careers when the killings begin again.

Director: Diao Yinan
Producer: Vivian Qu, Shen Yang
Screenwriter: Diao Yinan
Production Co: China Film, Boneyard Entertainment China, Omnijoi Media
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: Chinese
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 28, 2015
Runtime: 1h 46m

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