介绍:
It is a commonly accepted norm that art-house films winning international awards don't sell very well in Chinese cinemas. Director Wang Quan'an's romantic drama "Tuya's Marriage" won the Golden Bear at the 2007 Berlin Film Festival, but its total box office revenues never exceeded the 2-million-yuan benchmark. China's film market has expanded exponentially since then, but 2 million yuan still remains a meager amount in the world of Chinese cinema.
Director Diao Yinan's award-winning thriller "Black Coal, Thin Ice" is different. In just four days of its release, the latest winner of the best picture award in Berlin has earned more than 50 million yuan; not bad for an award-winning production in a market that is yet to learn how to appreciate films that do not feature a pounding soundtrack.
This moderate success is mainly due to the result that the film was not promoted as an art-house production. Instead, it has been touted as another Chinese blockbuster, and the distributors were not lying when they promised an enchanting story.
The crime thriller stars Liao Fan and Gui Lunmei. Liao Fan is the first Chinese screen performer to win the Berlin silver bear for best actor, for his role in this film as an ex-policeman. He is connected to Gui Lunmei's character of a young widow while investigating the murder case of the latter's husband. As Liao digs deeper into the case, he is also deeply attracted by the mysterious young woman. And since more murder cases revolve around the charming female, Liao realizes that his infatuation ultimately leads to a fatal outcome.
It is a story with many twists and turns, but the complicated excitement never infringes on its art-house feel; for example, the story develops at a gracefully slow pace against a relatively quiet backdrop, and indulges quite a few eloquent long takes on casual yet highly symbolic objects, which constantly invites viewers to unravel the film's hidden messages. Just one day after its public release, numerous articles have already emerged analyzing the film in detail, utilizing everything from Freudian to feminist theories.
Liao Fan's acting skills have also been widely appreciated. Since Jiang Wen's 2010 movie "Let the Bullets Fly", Chinese viewers have not seen many masculine figures on the big screen. Liao's profile fills that vacuum. In contrast, Gui Lunmei is her usual quiet self. Normally the poor acting of some Chinese actresses renders their beauty pointless, but not this time.
Many Chinese headlines have celebrated the film's release by claiming that this is the beginning of a golden age for Chinese art-house films and directors. "Black Coal, Thin Ice" will be followed by Police Diary by Ning Ying, Coming Home by Zhang Yimou and rather conveniently The Golden Era by Xu Anhua. At present, "Black Coal, Thin Ice" is doing well at the box office, especially compared to its predecessors of the same genre. But still it falls far behind average Chinese films of our time, so I wouldn't be too optimistic too soon.
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