The Great Depression of the 1930’s, the World Wars, and the resultant threat of nuclear warfare brought forth the disillusionment and pessimism in the American psyche. In cinema, this uncertainty and collective sense of fear brought forth one of the greatest artistic movement, known as ‘Film Noir’. Stark lighting effects, cynical hero, bleak depiction of city life were all few elements that defined the American Noir films of 40’s and 50’s. The screenplays were written by great hard-boiled fiction writers like Raymond Chandler and James M. Cain. Modern Noir (Neo-Noir) films are constantly trying to embellish these old school tries of thieves and detectives, more palatable to the geek culture. We had the stylish make overs like “Sin City”, “Drive”, and “Brick” etc (the recent tangled, less stylish, and masterful noir “Inherent Vice” from PTA didn’t receive much love from general audience). Chinese director Diao Yinan’s “Black Coal Thin Ice” (2014) pretty much boasts a story that stays true to the spirits of Raymond Chandler, but his movie is not flashy like the Hollywood Neo-Noir.
“Black Coal Thin Ice”, the winner of Golden Bear in last
year’s Berlin International Film Festival, is heavy on atmosphere and
characters. The noir plot is just a way for director Diao Yinan’s to view
things through his lens of social realism. The white wintry bleakness and the
black desolate industrial landscape of Chinese mainland will definitely
intrigue movie-lovers. The film starts in 1999. A long, steady conveyor belt in
a coal industry (situated in North-east China) is stopped from running by a
worker because he has found a human hand amongst the black gold. Detective Zhang
(Liao Fan) is in a hotel room with a woman, playing cards and having sex. The
woman turns out to be the detective’s wife, who is divorcing him. Before she
gets onto the train, he violently clings to her like an animal. After her
departure, he sits forlorn with a wounded look like the perfect noir hero.
Detective Zhang investigates the case in coal industry and
finds out that the dismembered human parts are scattered across different coal
plants within the county. The dead man is identified as Liang Zhijun and he
works in one of the coal plants. Zhang and his colleague Wang round-up suspects
in a saloon. The routine arrests gets botched up as two police men die, costing
Zhang’s batch. When we see Zhang, five years later, in 2004, Zhang is lying
near a tunnel, drunk and degraded. He couldn’t get up even when a guy steals
off his bike. Zhang now works as security guard. Wang, now a detective, finds a
similar series of murders like the one in 1999. A customer finds human eye in a
fast-food noodles shop.
The newly found dismembered parts belong to that of two
factory workers. In a chance encounter, Zhang meets up with Wang and discovers
that the murdered guys are boyfriends of Wu Zhizhen (Gwei Lun Mei). The
beautiful Wu is the widow of Liang Zhijun, the 1999 victim. She works in a
local laundromat. Wu also has the forlorn look, which makes Zhang to suspect
her as a woman of secrets. He helps detective Wang by becoming a regular
customer of the laundromat. Although, Wu looks like a femme fatale, he falls in
a gloomy kind of love, only complicating the case.
Director Diao Yinan’s perfectly maintains that desolate
mood, where lives are as much as expendable like coal. The sudden deaths, tragedies
and the ensuing passive reactions seem to be making some kind of social
commentary that is less overt. The film doesn’t make political statements like
last year’s “Touch of Sin”, but the joyless nature of the characters and the
way human lives are considered cheap reflects the alienated and oppressive
surroundings. Even the elated ‘Blue Danube’, playing on outdoor ice rink makes
us to anticipate something sinister to happen. The director definitely scores
full points in terms of aesthetics, but the standard and predictable
murder/mystery element is what undermines the movie’s effectiveness from
reaching the heights of “Memories of Murder” or “Zodiac”. Perhaps, director
Diao isn’t concerned about the mystery in the plot as he willfully puts forth
some impenetrable moments towards the end.
The final avant-garde sequences displaying ‘Daylight
Fireworks’ definitely fits within the thematic framework. However, it will
make general movie viewers to scratch their heads. Personally, I liked these
totally unexpected de-tours. The final scatter-firing fireworks and Wu’s reaction
(a little chuckle) may symbolically represent to us that she is finally set
free from her inner-self, since the haunting truth has come to light. The title
“Black Coal Thin Ice” also seems to indicate the movie’s male and female
characters. The inner, fragile nature of Wu constantly gets ripped apart by the
men she encounters in her life. The men like coal segues into her barren life,
only causing further humiliation. Noir films often tend to put forth
unsympathetic or unreasonable characters, but here the two primary characters
transcend that usual stereotype. Despite, the foreseeable events, it’s the fair
amount of tension between the characters that kept me intrigued to the screen.
“Black Coal Thin Ice” (106 minutes) is the hybrid between
generic and artistic cinema. It offers a dark portrait of life in modern China,
where communication between people seems to have broken down. Watch it for its
atmospheric complexity and unflinching characters.
Trailer
1 comment:
Impressive review Arun. In the world of paid reviews and self proclaims, your review is a breath of fresh air. Good going.
Best
Katie
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Chennai Focus
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