Black Coal, Thin Ice is an enjoyable and well-made noir film that’s unfortunately overall underwhelming. I feel very mixed about the film. The cinematography is fantastic and the story is good. However, how the majority of the rest of the film is executed is a bit of a letdown and sometimes straight-up frustrating. Two scenes in particular annoy me so much that it makes me want to bring this down to three stars. The first is towards the beginning. Two guys are hand-cuffed together and a cop takes their jacket. A gun falls out of the jacket and one of the guys hand-cuffed slowly reaches for the gun (everybody is watching him do it) and points it at the cop and fires it. It’s so dumb and frustrating to watch people with no common sense. Another scene that bothered me was when a cop cornered a suspect and arrested him. He has ice skates hanging over him and an injured arm so the cop only handcuffs his hands in front of him and not behind his back. Then he turns away from him and the suspect uses the ice skates to kill the cop. It’s so infuriating as anyone with common sense would have him put down the ice skates or at the very least kept a close eye on him. The only reason why scenes like this are even remotely enjoyable is because they are shot very well. The characters are solid but the main protagonist is quite unlikable. The biggest redeeming quality of his character is that he is trying to solve a murder. There should be some other likable characteristic for the audience to be able to root for the protagonist. I also don’t like his general treatment of the women in the film, practically harassing them as they try to get away or push him off. Granted, the noir genre has been a double-edged sword when it comes to the progressiveness of women in film. But since this is a pretty modern film, it’s a bit weird how its treatment feels like something from the 60’s or before. The story of the film is good. How the film unravels the mystery of the film is engaging if not confusing at points. Sometimes, it doesn’t do the best job of explaining what’s happening. The themes of the film are also pretty good. It definitely hits similar vibes to Memories of Murder in its themes. The editing of the film is hit or miss. There are a few jarring cuts which is a part of the reason why the story can be hard to follow. The biggest saving grace of the film is the look. There are some really great-looking shots and cinematography that I wish it was in a better movie. Black Coal, Thin Ice has its fair share of problems. But, the problems it has aren’t glaring. It’s the fact that there are so many of them that the good qualities get brought down because of them. Depending on how well this film sits with me, I might bring it down half a star. Still, I found this to be an enjoyable film with a good story and great cinematography, but mediocre characters and execution.
Black Coal, Thin Ice is an enjoyable and well-made noir film that’s unfortunately overall underwhelming. I feel very mixed about the film. The cinematography is fantastic and the story is good. However, how the majority of the rest of the film is executed is a bit of a letdown and sometimes straight-up frustrating. Two scenes in particular annoy me so much that it makes me want to bring this down to three stars. The first is towards the beginning. Two guys are hand-cuffed together and a cop takes their jacket. A gun falls out of the jacket and one of the guys hand-cuffed slowly reaches for the gun (everybody is watching him do it) and points it at the cop and fires it. It’s so dumb and frustrating to watch people with no common sense. Another scene that bothered me was when a cop cornered a suspect and arrested him. He has ice skates hanging over him and an injured arm so the cop only handcuffs his hands in front of him and not behind his back. Then he turns away from him and the suspect uses the ice skates to kill the cop. It’s so infuriating as anyone with common sense would have him put down the ice skates or at the very least kept a close eye on him. The only reason why scenes like this are even remotely enjoyable is because they are shot very well. The characters are solid but the main protagonist is quite unlikable. The biggest redeeming quality of his character is that he is trying to solve a murder. There should be some other likable characteristic for the audience to be able to root for the protagonist. I also don’t like his general treatment of the women in the film, practically harassing them as they try to get away or push him off. Granted, the noir genre has been a double-edged sword when it comes to the progressiveness of women in film. But since this is a pretty modern film, it’s a bit weird how its treatment feels like something from the 60’s or before. The story of the film is good. How the film unravels the mystery of the film is engaging if not confusing at points. Sometimes, it doesn’t do the best job of explaining what’s happening. The themes of the film are also pretty good. It definitely hits similar vibes to Memories of Murder in its themes. The editing of the film is hit or miss. There are a few jarring cuts which is a part of the reason why the story can be hard to follow. The biggest saving grace of the film is the look. There are some really great-looking shots and cinematography that I wish it was in a better movie. Black Coal, Thin Ice has its fair share of problems. But, the problems it has aren’t glaring. It’s the fact that there are so many of them that the good qualities get brought down because of them. Depending on how well this film sits with me, I might bring it down half a star. Still, I found this to be an enjoyable film with a good story and great cinematography, but mediocre characters and execution.
