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

250+ 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

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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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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

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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

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Audience Member

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Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/22/23

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Joan P R

Interesting portrayal of the hard life and ugly urban landscapes of a cold and grey province in China. As a detective story it can be painful to watch, with the police always slow and clumsy, or otherwise trigger-happy. The gender and sexual politics are not brilliant either, but perhaps this is the point - how awful it must be for a woman in China.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

05/20/17

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Audience Member

Well shot, but is too by-the-book for its own good.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/01/23

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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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