GLASGOW FILM FESTIVAL
ALISON ROWAT
Black Coal, Thin Ice (N/C 15+)
four stars
Dir: Diao Yi'nan
With: Liao Fan, Gwei Lun-Mei
Runtime: 106 minutes
WITH its snowbound setting, strong characters and tension as tight as a garrotte, Diao Yi'nan's crime drama could be a prime slice of Nordic noir. But there is an otherworldly, wild frontiers air about the picture that marks it out as coming unmistakeably from the new China. Liao Fan plays an ex-cop whose efforts to catch a serial killer ended in disaster. Years later, when it looks as though the murderer has come out of retirement, the police seek his help once more. Bleak, violent, and initially slow moving, this cleverly plotted Berlin Film Festival winner soon catches fire.
GFT, tonight [THURS 19] (21.00); tomorrow (15.20)
Wild Tales (15)
three stars
Dir: Damian Szifron
With: Ricardo Darin, Rita Cortese
Runtime: 122 minutes
RICARDO Darin (The Secret in Their Eyes) is part of the ensemble cast of an Argentinian comedy so unrelentingly bleak you almost need a torch to find your way. Through six standalone stories, Damian Szifron's picture portrays Argentina as a country in a permanent grip of rage, with people railing against the authorities, each other, and the petty annoyances of everyday life. This is revenge best served not cold, but savage, and jolly good fun too.
GFT, tomorrow (18.00); Grosvenor, February 21 (18.45)
Second Chance (N/C 15+)
two stars
Dir: Susanne Bier
With: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
Runtime: 105 minutes
BETWEEN this gloomfest and the misfire that was Serena, the wheels have rather fallen off director Susanne Bier's wagon after her successes with In a Better World and Love is All You Need. Here, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau plays a cop whose perfect life is turned on its head after he raids the home of a junkie, his partner and their baby. Handsomely shot, but harrowing to watch, and not just because of the ridiculous plot.
CCA, February 21 (18.15), February 22 (15.30)
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