Black Coal, Thin Ice

It all begins in 1999 with the appearance of body parts popping up. Zhang Lili is a detective trying to solve the macabre case, but abruptly it all ends in an arrest where little goes as planned. Five years later his career as a police officer is over, then working as a security guard in a coal mine spending the rest of his time drinking himself to death. But again, body parts are popping up, this time in the form of feet attached to ice- skates. His obsession does not let go of him, and turns into an intense search to find answers to who is behind the killings.

Black Coal, Thin Ice is a fascinating murder mystery, given a number a prices during the Berlin Film Festival last year. Among those, the very Golden Bear award. Besides an intense story, the director Yi'nan Diao gives us an incredible atmosphere. The dark, industrial surroundings are a perfect setting for a neo-noir as Black Coal, Thin Ice. A film compared to classics from Tarantino, Fincher and Hitchcock not without reason.

Yi'nan Diao (b. 1969) started as an actor, but is now best known for directing and writing screenplays. He was educated at Central Academy of Drama in Beijing and has a long career in the theaters of China. Among his most famous films are Night Train (2007) and Shower (1999). Black Coal, Thin Ice (2014) won i.a. The Golden Bear award in Berlin.