In the new film “The Breaking Ice,” written and directed by Anthony Cheng, three lost 20-somethings are reunited in a liminal world. The film takes place in the Chinese city of Yanji, bordering North Korea, where two languages and cultures mingle in the shadow of snow-capped mountains.
In this ice city, tour guide Nana (Zhou Dongyu) passes by Hafeng (Liu Haoran), an investor from Shanghai who is visiting for a wedding. She recognizes in him her melancholy, which rhymes with her own melancholy, and meets up with her friend Xiao (Ku Chuxiao), who works at her restaurant and is pining for her nana. invite him to dinner.
As the three drink heavily and ride Xiao’s motorcycle on a youthful adventure, a love triangle takes shape, but the expected conflict never ensues. It is as if Yanji’s cold, otherworldly loneliness sublimates the characters’ unrequited desires into a deeper yearning for connection. They’re grateful to have each other, even if it’s not in the way they really wanted.
This setting is full of metaphorical possibilities, and it’s here that Chen stumbles as a director. Haofeng’s depression is indicated by his habit of chewing on ice and balancing dangerously on snowy cliffs. Nana repeatedly encounters events that remind her of her failed career as an ice skater. News of North Korean defectors appears throughout the movie, and it stirs something in Shao, who is restless.
These motifs are developed without subtlety, weighing down the film, and at its best moments feel light and refreshing, like a cool breeze.
breaking ice
Unrated. Chinese and Korean, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 37 minutes. At the theater.