70
Metascore
8 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80VarietyScott FoundasVarietyScott FoundasA bleak but powerful, carefully controlled detective thriller in which — as with all the best noirs — there are no real heroes or villains, only various states of compromise.
- 80CineVueCineVueBlack Coal, Thin Ice is a majestic neo-noir.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterDeborah YoungThe Hollywood ReporterDeborah YoungIf the plotting was only more coherent and audience-friendly and the story-telling more disciplined, the film's extraordinarily complex atmosphere would be irresistible.
- 67The PlaylistJessica KiangThe PlaylistJessica KiangThe odd rhythm of very fast and slick followed by very slow and arty is difficult to settle into, and the film ultimately frustrates, willfully obscuring the apparatus of what appears at first to be a promising film noir framework.
- 60The GuardianPeter BradshawThe GuardianPeter BradshawIt never quite catches fire, but it has a curious atmosphere of its own: menacing, pregnant with unease.
- 60The GuardianLuke BuckmasterThe GuardianLuke BuckmasterThe final reel is visually interesting in ways nobody could anticipate; it is also smugly perplexing, as if the filmmaker took joy from the knowledge virtually nobody would understand it.
- 60Time OutTime OutBlack Coal, Thin Ice may well floor some viewers, as it did the Berlin jury. But others will find it too obtuse and remote, its characters too withdrawn to be relatable. See it, though, for those fleeting, unforgettable visual touches.