*Spoiler Alert*
The female character commits her first crime due to circumstances and she seems indebted to her husband for saving her at his own peril. Why does she then still go ahead and have affairs with other people? She certainly didn't seem someone with a loose character.
Chauvinism may have been a factor. The female character is shown as quite passive, and is somehow supposed to obey the requests of men. She was courted by two other customers, plus her boss, and may have not been vocal enough to say that she wasn't interested.
shareIsn't there a mention that she's about to marry one of those lovers and he gets killed the night before?
Chauvinism could be the reason behind abuse (like her boss subjects her to) but love affairs which go close to marriage can't happen without reciprocal feelings.
What's your take on the fireworks at the end? Is it just symbolism that first big change (crime) of her life happens at a place called 'daylight fireworks' and then the 2nd big change (arrest) happens while someone lits 'daylight fireworks'?
These comments and obvious questions (I asked them myself) highlight the fact that the storyline here is quite loose and unbelievable at times, especially in terms of coincidences and narrative shortcuts. The ending with the fireworks (but also the frantic dance in the ballroom) looks more to me like a visual standpoint from a director with a higher opinion of the aesthetic beauty of his film than of his plot. I was somehow expecting a Chinese Memories of Murder, and I was of course disappointed.
shareThe time jump definitely reminded me of Memories of Murder. I was kind of disappointed as well. Still a pretty solid film, very flawed though.
shareJust saw the film yesterday.
Here's my take: She is indebted to him because he helped her to get rid of the “daylight fireworks” guy. But he became insane, killing other guys and so on. So she has contradictory feelings toward him: thankfulness, fear and a reminiscing of love, I guess. That's how I took it.
But I have other concerns:
- I assumed that we, as an audience, are inclined to dislike A LOT the main male character.
It is shown at the beginning that he is a tough lover to deal with, being violent and perhaps abusive with his former wife (as shown when she leaves him by train), he has animal-like instinct (the scene at the factory where the workers throw a girl in his arms) and love to humiliate girls.
I'll explain this last assertion: when they make love in the big wheel after his pointing out of her lie, she seems to half-dislike the act (the shot evokes the sex scene with his wife at the beginning). And, just after that, he throws her in the arms of the police, witch seems unnecessary since by then the case is officially closed and she is not a serial killer like her husband was, but just a woman harassed by men.
So why does he do this? To humiliate her. To feel strong and to "win" (his partner told him earlier that "we don't win in this world"). Hence the fireworks at the end, the final touch of humiliation.
Am I correct in this? That's the only way I could come to tie some scenes together... Including the dance scene, where he "shows of" because he "won".
- Were the two kids shot in 1999 related one way or another to the crime, or were they just small fries casually frightened by the police? (I opt for the later, but...)
- What's up with the eye in the soup? I missed something, here.
- Since the dead cop badly wrote the license plate, how come the killer WAS in that bus? And how did the cop found the white van in the first place? Just by watching outdoor of the laundry? (again, I must have missed something in a shot).
- At the dance floor, why does he stops following the killer in the stairs? Fear?
Overall, great film, beautifully shot, with amazing sequences (the stealing of the motorbike, the chase in the snow, the fireworks, obviously) but dragging a little by the third act and somewhat confusing.
I saw the movie yesterday, I kinda have the same questions... looking forward to the answers!
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- Were the two kids shot in 1999 related one way or another to the crime, or were they just small fries casually frightened by the police? (I opt for the later, but...)
The name of this movie in Chinese is Daylight Fireworks. And the owner of Daylight Fireworks Club was the person who abused the woman. That should explain the ending fireworks.
shareThe name of this movie in Chinese is Daylight Fireworks.Not sure why the English version doesn't use that title. It seems to make a bit more sense and relate to the film better than black coal, thin ice.🐭 share
It's quite clear why. Her husband helped dispose of the body of the man who used and abused her. To cover up he decides to disappear, which means he disappears from her life too aside from the odd furtive meeting. She's human and falls in love again but her husband haunts her existence and murders any subsequent suitors. She can't tell on him because he could reappear and tell on her.
I give my respect to those who have earned it; to everyone else, I'm civil.share
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