CHINESE THRILLER GOES DOWN DARKLY.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic

LI YANG'S ``Blind Shaft'' arrives in theaters with some fanfare, having won the Silver Bear last year at the Berlin Film Festival and the Best Narrative Feature at the Tribeca festival.

And while the film certainly has its merits, both for its documentary-like look at the world of unregulated mining in China and its harsh, underlying indictment of the Chinese Economic Miracle, the end result is somewhat unsatisfying, largely because its twists aren't all that surprising and its outcome seems foreordained.

For a movie modeled on American B-movie thrillers, that lack of tension proves deflating.

First-time filmmaker Li certainly gives you a feel for the grim landscapes and unforgiving world that plays host to unscrupulous capitalists and two-bit con men. Into the latter category fall Tang (Wang Shuangbao) and partner Song (Li Yixiang), a couple of heartless hustlers looking to make a fast buck in a corrupt society. In Li's China, anything goes. Or as Tang flippantly puts it: ``I just kill anyone in the path of my fortune.''

That includes naive 16-year-old Yuan (Wang Baoqiang), who is unknowingly roped into the criminals' scheme to bilk the owner of one of these hazardous mines. The film's tension - what there is of it - comes from the conflict between Song and Tang when the former begins to feel pangs of conscience for the innocent, simple Yuan.

Li shot much of the film surreptitiously, making ``Blind Shaft'' into something of a travelogue for anyone interested in visiting hell on earth. The mine scenes, though not many, are properly harrowing and artfully lit by cinematographer Liu Yonghong. Elsewhere, provincial life is shown in depressing squalor. To escape, the film's characters resort to booze and brothels, the latter of which are populated by the kind of beautiful prostitutes one usually sees in films and not remote outposts.

If Li succumbs to convention there, he also shows his limitations as a storyteller in the conventional way his thriller unfolds. He never retreats into sentimentality, though. Aside from Yuan, it seems the whole country is on the take. When a mine boss asks his superior why he doesn't simply have Tang and Song killed, the answer is obvious. It would cost more to bribe the police than to pay off the two grifters. For obvious reasons, ``Blind Shaft'' has been banned in China.

Glenn Whipp, [phone]

glenn.whipp(at)dailynews.com

BLIND SHAFT - Two and one half stars

(Not rated: sex, violence)

Starring: Wang Shuangbao, Li Yixiang, Wang Baoqiang.

Director: Li Yang.

Running time: 1 hr. 32 min.

Playing: Landmark's Nuart Theater in West Los Angeles.

In a nutshell: Documentary-like look at unregulated mining in China works as a harsh indictment of the Chinese Economic Miracle but not as a B-movie thriller.