Mt. Baekdu, heavy with snow in the middle of winter. It is said that many ethnic Koreans still live near the snow-covered mountain. A policeman waiting for his transfer and a group of criminals trying to escape from the area after finding stolen goods that were hidden will have a final showdown on the isolated peak. The movie starts with a typical confrontation between the police and the villain, but the confrontation becomes meaningless as the movie progresses. In this debut film, the director spends more energy directing the human instinct to survive in extreme situations than on showing who is good or bad. Chang Chen of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Liao Fan of Black Coal, Thin Ice, the winner of the best actor award at the Berlin Film Festival, appear as cop and criminal, creating characters transcending right and wrong through the frozen faces and the gestures like wild animals. Du Jie, one of China′s most talented cinematographers filmed the mountain covered with snow calmly, without excessive artistic self-consciousness. (Sung Jihae)