Why a Chinese noir masterpiece contrasts the harshness of reality with the fantasy of fireworks.
In short: Director Diao Yinan spent eight years crafting the screenplay for Black Coal, Thin Ice, a 2014 thriller that won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. The film juxtaposes the gritty, industrial reality of coal and ice with the surreal, fleeting beauty of fireworks set off in daylight.
The film follows Zhang Zili, a detective whose life unravels after a botched 1999 investigation into dismembered body parts found across coal factories in Heilongjiang Province. Five years later, Zhang, now an alcoholic, encounters a string of new murders linked to Wu Zhizhen, a dry cleaner. As Zhang obsessively tracks Wu, he uncovers a dark web of blackmail and hidden identities, eventually revealing that Wu’s husband, Liang Zhijun, had faked his death to protect her by committing a series of killings.
Diao Yinan’s vision for the film relies on the tension between its two titles. The English title, Black Coal, Thin Ice, grounds the narrative in the physical evidence of the crimes: coal factories where remains were discovered and ice rinks where victims were found. In contrast, the Chinese title, Bai Ri Yan Huo, translates to Daylight Fireworks. Diao describes these as two sides of the same coin: the coal and ice represent the cruel, tangible reality of the world, while the fireworks serve as a necessary fantasy used to coat oneself against that harshness.
The production process was as meticulous as the film's thematic layering. Diao wrote three drafts over eight years to refine the noir structure. Lead actor Liao Fan committed to the role of the disgraced detective by gaining 44 pounds (20 kilograms). The film achieved significant international recognition, grossing 16.8 million US dollars worldwide and earning Liao the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival, where it received high critical praise.
The film’s climax, featuring a man setting off fireworks in broad daylight, serves as a poignant visual metaphor for the characters' attempts to find meaning or release amidst their bleak circumstances. By blending the procedural elements of a detective story with these symbolic motifs, Diao creates a cinematic experience that explores how individuals navigate the divide between their lived reality and the fantasies they construct to survive it.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Black Coal, Thin Ice
- Also: Wikidata — Black Coal, Thin Ice · CC0
- Also: Wikidata — Black coal, thin ice: the discursive legitimisation of Australian coal in the age of climate change · CC0
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