Chinese Crime Thrillers

Chinese Crime Thrillers

9 Episodes

Noir was never part of mainland China’s literary or cinematic lexicon until relatively recently, when a new wave of gripping, boldly stylized thrillers took up the genre’s conventions—gritty narratives, morally complex characters, and pervasive disillusionment—as a lens for potent social commentary. These moody, subversive tales of crime, corruption, and survival in a rapidly changing world explore issues of economic disparity and the fragility of justice as well as larger existential questions of identity, purpose, and the struggle for individual agency. Delving into the darkest corners of contemporary China, acclaimed films like BLACK COAL, THIN ICE; ASH IS PUREST WHITE; DYING TO SURVIVE; and STREETWISE brilliantly use the trappings of genre cinema to explore new social and psychological territory.

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Chinese Crime Thrillers

9 Episodes

  • Chinese Crime Thrillers Teaser
    01:07
    Chinese Crime Thrillers Teaser
    Episode 1

    Chinese Crime Thrillers Teaser

    Episode 1

  • Black Coal, Thin Ice
    1:49:34
    Black Coal, Thin Ice
    Episode 2

    Black Coal, Thin Ice

    Episode 2

    Directed by Diao Yinan • 2014 • China
    Starring Liao Fan, Gwei Lun-mei, Wang Xuebing

    Bone-deep disillusionment and startling moments of visual invention suffuse this noir immersion into the seedy underbelly of contemporary Chinese society, winner of the Golden Bear at the 2014 Berlin Film Festiva...

  • Ash Is Purest White
    2:16:04
    Ash Is Purest White
    Episode 3

    Ash Is Purest White

    Episode 3

    Directed by Jia Zhangke • 2018 • China
    Starring Zhao Tao, Liao Fan, Diao Yinan

    Visionary director Jia Zhangke’s mesmerizing, decade-plus spanning journey through China’s criminal underworld features a tour-de-force performance from his frequent star Zhao Tao as Zhao Qiao, the swaggering girlfrie...

  • Dying to Survive
    1:56:19
    Dying to Survive
    Episode 4

    Dying to Survive

    Episode 4

    Directed by Wen Muye • 2018 • China
    Starring Xu Zheng, Zhou Yiwei, Wang Chuanjun

    Based on the true story of a Robin Hood–esque people’s hero who took on big pharma, this rousing blend of comedy and social drama was a box-office smash in China that actually effected change in government policy re...

  • The Wild Goose Lake
    1:50:59
    The Wild Goose Lake
    Episode 5

    The Wild Goose Lake

    Episode 5

    Directed by Diao Yinan • 2019 • China
    Starring Hu Ge, Gwei Lun-mei, Liao Fan

    When small-time mob leader Zhou Zenong (Hu Ge) accidentally kills a cop, a dead-or-alive bounty is placed on his head, forcing him on the lam from both the police as well as dangerous gangsters out for the reward. Hidin...

  • Only the River Flows
    1:42:03
    Only the River Flows
    Episode 6

    Only the River Flows

    Episode 6

    Directed by Wei Shujun • 2023 • China
    Starring Zhu Yilong, Chloe Maayan, Hou Tianlai

    When a woman’s body washes up on the shore in small-town China in the 1990s, the local chief of police, Ma Zhe (Zhu Yilong), is tasked with leading the investigation. An obvious suspect leads to a hasty arrest, ...

  • Chongqing Hot Pot
    1:38:50
    Chongqing Hot Pot
    Episode 7

    Chongqing Hot Pot

    Episode 7

    Directed by Yang Qing • 2016 • China
    Starring Chen Kun, Bai Baihe, Qin Hao

    This wild, genre-blasting blend of rollicking comedy and blood-spattered crime caper follows three friends who, when they open a hot pot restaurant in a former bomb shelter, are surprised to discover that it’s linked by a...

  • Streetwise
    1:35:53
    Streetwise
    Episode 8

    Streetwise

    Episode 8

    Directed by Na Jiazuo • 2021 • China
    Starring Liu Jiuxiao, Huang Miyi, Sha Baoliang

    An at once gritty and intoxicatingly stylized portrait of a group of outcasts struggling to survive in a fading riverside town, STREETWISE unfolds in 2004 in Zhenwu, one of the many small villages in the Sichuan ...

  • The Fallen Bridge
    1:53:52
    The Fallen Bridge
    Episode 9

    The Fallen Bridge

    Episode 9

    Directed by Li Yu • 2022 • China
    Starring Ma Sichun, Karry Wang, Fan Wei

    A searing saga of capitalist corruption, revenge, and a woman’s relentless pursuit of justice, this socially conscious crime drama begins when a bridge in the busy Chinese city of Huangque collapses in broad daylight. From ...

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