I'll start with a few words on GWEI Lun-mei. When I saw her debut in 2002, she played the lead role of a tomboyish teenager with a hint of Lesbian tendency. The film was Taiwan's exquisite "Blue gate crossing" (Lan se da men). As can be seen from my IMDb posting below, while I thought highly of both leads, I didn't mention their names because they were unknowns. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0333764/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
She has come a long way since then, attaining celebrity status at least in the Asian film community, and now plays the bewitching, beguiling femme fatale in "Black coal".
This Berlin multiple-winner "Black coal" is a salute to the genre film noir. Don't look for a water-tight plot or a fiendishly clever twist that will propel you from your seat into a standing ovation. The style and mood, however, will be satisfying, especially when this is your first exposure to the bleak coal-mining community of China's expansive North-east.
The protagonist is all but iconic for this genre, an alcoholic ex-cop. The details of what triggered his downhill slide in 1999 are incidental – a divorce and a fumble on the job. The case, however, is crucial, a bizarre and macabre affair of body parts of the victim being scattered like "flower pedals" (an imagery drawn from Chinese literature and mythology) in coal mines all over the province. The logistics of how this was accomplished would be the key to the solution. As Holmes motto says: when you have eliminated all other possibilities, what remains, however improbably, is the solution.
Five years later, in 2004, two similar gory cases occur and all three victims, it is discovered, have had romantic associations with aforementioned fame fatale, a worker at a small laundry shop. Our protagonist is drawn back into the role of an investigator and during the investigation, develops romantic relationship with the women he is investigating – all too predictable.
As mentioned, when the final revelation comes, it is a little bit of a letdown. As well, there is such a proliferation of red herrings that it gets somewhat tedious, especially when some of them come out of nowhere and are entirely irrelevant. Still, it wouldn't have a furious audience pulling out pocket knives and cutting the seats. It's not that bad. In any case, what the movie offers is something else, as mentioned, mood and style. The direction shows occasional flashes of cleverness; the camera work is exquisite. Acting is competent. All told, if you are not put off by some of the violence that is not unexpected, this would be an interesting cinematic experience.
She has come a long way since then, attaining celebrity status at least in the Asian film community, and now plays the bewitching, beguiling femme fatale in "Black coal".
This Berlin multiple-winner "Black coal" is a salute to the genre film noir. Don't look for a water-tight plot or a fiendishly clever twist that will propel you from your seat into a standing ovation. The style and mood, however, will be satisfying, especially when this is your first exposure to the bleak coal-mining community of China's expansive North-east.
The protagonist is all but iconic for this genre, an alcoholic ex-cop. The details of what triggered his downhill slide in 1999 are incidental – a divorce and a fumble on the job. The case, however, is crucial, a bizarre and macabre affair of body parts of the victim being scattered like "flower pedals" (an imagery drawn from Chinese literature and mythology) in coal mines all over the province. The logistics of how this was accomplished would be the key to the solution. As Holmes motto says: when you have eliminated all other possibilities, what remains, however improbably, is the solution.
Five years later, in 2004, two similar gory cases occur and all three victims, it is discovered, have had romantic associations with aforementioned fame fatale, a worker at a small laundry shop. Our protagonist is drawn back into the role of an investigator and during the investigation, develops romantic relationship with the women he is investigating – all too predictable.
As mentioned, when the final revelation comes, it is a little bit of a letdown. As well, there is such a proliferation of red herrings that it gets somewhat tedious, especially when some of them come out of nowhere and are entirely irrelevant. Still, it wouldn't have a furious audience pulling out pocket knives and cutting the seats. It's not that bad. In any case, what the movie offers is something else, as mentioned, mood and style. The direction shows occasional flashes of cleverness; the camera work is exquisite. Acting is competent. All told, if you are not put off by some of the violence that is not unexpected, this would be an interesting cinematic experience.