Film Review #82: BREAKING ICE

Film still from Breaking Ice

Anthony Chen's fourth feature, The Breaking Ice (2023), marks a decade since he brought home the accolade Camera d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival for his debut feature, Ilo Ilo (2013). The Breaking Ice premiered at Cannes's Un Certain Regard race this year, and is Chen's first Mainland Chinese film, starring Golden Horse Best Actress Award winner Dongyu Zhou, together with co-stars Haoran Liu and Chuxiao Qu.

The film tells a story that explores themes of redemption, loneliness and the blurred lines between friendship and love. The three leads formed a love triangle in the movie, a portrayal which reminded several audiences of François Truffaut’s Jules et Jim (1962).

Film still from Breaking Ice

For casual moviegoers or audiences who aren’t familiar with Chen and Chen's work, it is easy to see this film as one made by a Mainland Chinese filmmaker. In his attempt to tell the story he wanted this time, Chen eluded nationalities, geography, culture and customs.

The Breaking Ice revolves around Nana (Dongyu Zhou) - a former competitive figure-skater turned tour guide in Yanji; Haofeng (Haoran Liu) - a bright but depressed finance executive who works in Shanghai; and Xiao (Chuxiao Qu) - a worker in his relatives' restaurant living in regret for not realizing his potential. Three people from extremely different backgrounds formed an unlikely bond, at times a love triangle, at times three bodies sharing one same soul, and other times floating in-between.

The Breaking Ice, when compared to Chen’s first two features – Ilo Ilo and Wet Season – shows an improvement in crafting not one or even two but three central characters and their respective back stories to a relative degree of perfection. To this end, Chen deserves massive praises, but might I add, this feat in itself brings about the film’s imperfections. That, as interesting and even entertaining as watching the three leads may be, the plot or story started from good at best, to a point where even with the resolutions of the three leads being ambiguous, I couldn’t push myself to genuinely care about finding out what exactly happened to them after the events in the film.

Film still from Breaking Ice

The film stands tall on its compelling performances from the three leads, and on Chen’s direction. Apart from Cannes, the only other major awards news for the film so far is that Singapore has chosen it to represent the country at next year's Oscars in the international feature category, but it's still a long way and the first hurdle would be making into the shortlist. Zhou's performance needs no additional praises, it's a pity The Breaking Ice isn't gonna hit the Golden Horse Awards this year else Zhou might've been in the run for her second best actress award. Both the gentlemen did a wonderful job with their own characters too but if only Chen had given more time and space to dive into Xiao’s story would Qu then match his co-stars’ presence.

The Breaking Ice is a visually stunning film that warrants a theatrical first watch, and a second watch for those of us interested (yes that includes me) from the comfort of our bed or couch.

My Letterboxd score for the film – 3.5 stars

时隔十年，陈哲艺导演再次问鼎坎城影展。

陈导的第四部作品《燃冬》由内地三位炙手可热的演员领衔主演 – 金马影后周冬雨，以及新生代男神刘昊然、屈楚萧。

《燃冬》故事讲述前花式溜冰员转延吉导游娜娜（周冬雨饰）与上海金融新秀浩丰（刘昊然饰）及娜娜多年青梅竹马韩萧（屈楚萧饰）的三角恋，以及他们三人的复杂背景和过去。

论野心，这部片无疑是陈哲艺导演目前为止视野最远、最广，主题内容最深的电影。不得不说，三个主角的塑造非常成功，其中任何两位，以及三位合体的所有情节，都很吸睛，丝毫不觉得电影枯燥乏味。剧中的娜娜、浩丰及韩萧除了构成一个三角恋之外，与彼此更多的是一种互相救赎的关系。

在看的时候并没有察觉，但现在发现周冬雨在《燃冬》里饰演娜娜，跟她的第一座金马影后电影《七月与安生》形成了相当有意思的对比。两部都是由三角恋展开故事的电影，而周冬雨原先从《七月与安生》里两位女主角之一的李安生，变成了《燃冬》里被两位男主角同时喜欢上的娜娜。无奈《燃冬》无缘今年的金马奖，不然周冬雨很有可能问鼎她的第二座影后奖座。

承上所述，《燃冬》的优点也可说是它的缺点。再一次自编自导的陈哲艺，固然将他故事里的三大主角塑造的有形有象，有声有色，有血有泪。不过，电影的故事却显得不比它的角色生动，以至于结尾三位主角的后续发展不明，某些观众可能觉得无所谓，不被勾起好奇心。

要选出《燃冬》最值得赞赏的地方，想必是三位主角的演出，以及陈哲艺的指导。僅管电影不完美，9月29日仍传来了《燃冬》被选为代表新加坡角逐明年奥斯卡金像奖最佳国际电影殊荣的喜讯。

《燃冬》片中景色壮观宜人，许多画面都拍得让人如痴如醉，观众必须在电影院里享有自己的初体验；而有意想二刷的人们，凉快安静的周末午后沙发是个不错的选择。

我给《燃冬》在 Letterboxd 打 3.5 颗星。

——————————————————————————-

About the Author: Jarrett is a devoted cinephile for over half of his life. Apart from movies, coffee keeps him awake and music keeps him alive. Having studied theatre and performed as an actor before, he's also a sucker for great performances.

Follow Jarrett on Letterboxd: https://boxd.it/2JImT