Movies: The Breaking Ice (2023) by Anthony Chen: A Poetic Meditation on Youth, Loneliness, and Emotional Thaw
- dailyentertainment95
- Oct 26, 2025
- 6 min read
Three Souls Searching for Warmth in a Frozen World
The Breaking Ice is a Chinese–Singaporean romantic drama directed and written by Anthony Chen, known for Ilo Ilo and Wet Season. Starring Zhou Dongyu, Liu Haoran, and Qu Chuxiao, the film follows three disillusioned young adults — a tour guide, a restless visitor from Shanghai, and a lonely cook — who find solace in each other over one fleeting winter weekend in Yanji, a snowy city near China’s border with North Korea.
Premiering in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, the film went on to win 4 awards and 10 nominations, including recognition for its cinematography, emotional restraint, and Chen’s elegant direction. With its tender blend of melancholy and hope, The Breaking Ice captures the emotional quiet of a generation caught between self-fulfillment and solitude.
Why to Recommend Movie — Quiet Emotion and Universal Loneliness
The Breaking Ice is an understated but deeply resonant film about human connection, youth, and the aching beauty of fleeting intimacy.
Emotional realism: Each of the three characters carries invisible wounds — depression, disappointment, or longing — that slowly surface through their conversations and shared silences. The film treats emotion not as spectacle but as truth.
Visual poetry: The wintry landscape of Yanji becomes a metaphor for emotional numbness, its frozen rivers and pale skies echoing the inner stillness of its characters.
Subtle romance: Rather than grand gestures, the film finds passion in quiet moments — a look, a touch, a walk through falling snow.
Universal themes: Whether Chinese, Singaporean, or global, its story of loneliness and fleeting warmth transcends culture.
Calm beauty: Anthony Chen’s direction embraces stillness, using rhythm and atmosphere to draw viewers into a meditative state rather than a dramatic one.
Where to watch: https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-breaking-ice (US), https://www.justwatch.com/ca/movie/the-breaking-ice (Canada), https://www.justwatch.com/fr/film/un-hiver-a-yanji (France), https://www.justwatch.com/it/film/the-breaking-ice (Italia), https://www.justwatch.com/es/pelicula/the-breaking-ice (Spain)
Link IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt17052842/
About movie: https://www.rediancefilms.com/film.php-60.html
What is the Trend Followed — Minimalist Emotional Realism and Asian New Intimacy
The Breaking Ice continues the trend of minimalist emotional cinema — intimate dramas that explore inner lives through small gestures, atmosphere, and silence.
Post-pandemic emotional realism: Reflects a generation’s quiet grief and yearning for connection after collective isolation.
Asian “New Intimacy” cinema: Alongside films like Past Lives and Drive My Car, it focuses on communication, vulnerability, and emotional distance.
Art-house naturalism: Emphasizes authentic emotion, natural light, and improvisational dialogue to build realism.
Cross-cultural identity: As a Singapore–China collaboration, the film bridges multiple emotional and linguistic worlds, echoing globalization’s quiet dislocation.
In Summary — What the “The Breaking Ice” Plot Represents
Element | Trend Connection | Implication |
Three strangers bonding | Emotional realism | Connection as a temporary refuge from despair |
Winter landscape | Visual metaphorism | Coldness of the world reflects internal isolation |
Youth in transition | Post-pandemic disillusionment | The modern generation’s search for meaning in uncertainty |
Unspoken intimacy | Minimalist narrative trend | Silence becomes the truest form of emotional communication |
The film turns quiet companionship into a language of survival — proof that warmth can be found even in a frozen world.
Director’s Vision — Silence, Stillness, and the Art of Emotional Honesty
Anthony Chen captures the fragility of human emotion through simplicity and restraint. His direction transforms ordinary encounters into visual poetry.
Naturalistic tone: Chen avoids overt melodrama, allowing the smallest expressions to reveal vast emotional landscapes.
Muted color palette: Whites, blues, and grays dominate, emphasizing emotional numbness while framing beauty within emptiness.
Intimate framing: Close-ups of hands, faces, and still bodies emphasize interiority and vulnerability.
Pacing as mood: Slow pacing mirrors emotional healing, showing how time softens pain.
Tender ambiguity: The story never explains too much — feelings are left open, like unfinished letters.
Themes — Youth, Solitude, and Emotional Thaw
The Breaking Ice is about the quiet revolution of being seen by others when you no longer see yourself clearly.
Loneliness and healing: The three characters are all emotionally frozen — their connection helps them rediscover the warmth of existence.
Depression and silence: The film addresses mental health not through words but through shared empathy and companionship.
Love beyond romance: It portrays affection as emotional refuge rather than passion — an embrace between souls, not lovers.
The beauty of impermanence: Their time together is fleeting, but the memory lingers like sunlight on snow.
Search for identity: Each character represents a fragment of modern alienation — success, failure, and longing all merging in the same emotional winter.
Key Success Factors — Cinematic Simplicity and Emotional Truth
The Breaking Ice stands out through its purity of storytelling, emotional precision, and visual grace.
Zhou Dongyu’s luminous performance: She embodies fragile resilience — her eyes alone carry the film’s weight of sadness and hope.
Liu Haoran’s quiet vulnerability: As Haofeng, he captures the restless exhaustion of modern youth.
Qu Chuxiao’s earthy sincerity: His grounded performance adds warmth to the trio’s emotional chemistry.
Cinematography: The snowy landscapes of Yanji are both harsh and tender — beauty and emptiness coexist in every frame.
Music and sound design: Gentle piano and ambient tones complement the stillness, emphasizing internal emotion.
Awards & Nominations — Critical Acclaim and Festival Success
The Breaking Ice earned 4 wins and 10 nominations, including selections at Cannes (Un Certain Regard) and nominations at major Asian and European festivals. It also represented Singapore’s official submission for the 96th Academy Awards in the Best International Feature Film category.
Critics Reception — A Quietly Devastating Work of Beauty
Critics have lauded the film’s visual precision, emotional honesty, and poetic atmosphere.
Variety: Called it “a tender, snowbound reverie — a love story without declarations.”
The Guardian: Praised its “restrained direction and breathtaking cinematography.”
South China Morning Post: Described it as “a minimalist triumph in portraying emotional desolation.”
IndieWire: Said it “captures the melancholy of modern existence with haunting calmness.”
While some critics found it too subtle, most agreed that its emotional resonance deepens long after the credits fade.
Reviews — Tender, Melancholic, and Deeply Human
Audience reactions have been quietly passionate, describing it as meditative, comforting, and achingly real.
Rotten Tomatoes: Critics score around 88%, praised for direction and visual tone.
Letterboxd: Viewers describe it as “like watching snow melt in slow motion” — beautiful, sad, and soothing.
Metacritic: Scored 71, reflecting admiration for its cinematography and emotional intelligence.
Many called it “the perfect winter film for anyone who has ever felt lost.”
Release Date on Streaming
Streaming Premiere: Released in February 2024 on MUBI, following its theatrical and festival run.
Theatrical Release
World Premiere: May 2023, Cannes Film Festival (Un Certain Regard).
General Release: August 22, 2023, in China and Singapore.
Movie Trend — The Rise of Contemplative East Asian Romance
The Breaking Ice continues the growing popularity of slow, contemplative romance dramas emerging from East Asia. These films — from Drive My Car to Past Lives — trade melodrama for authenticity, emphasizing the emotional weight of time, silence, and missed opportunities.
This new trend appeals to a global audience craving sincerity and quiet reflection over spectacle — a cinematic antidote to overstimulation.
Social Trend — Emotional Numbness in Modern Youth
The film mirrors today’s generational struggle: the pressure to succeed, the fear of isolation, and the quiet yearning for genuine connection. Its cold setting and emotionally distant characters symbolize the modern experience of being “connected but alone.”
Through its minimalism, The Breaking Ice becomes a story about emotional reawakening — how compassion and shared silence can restore the warmth of being alive.
Final Verdict — A Winter Poem About Connection and Release
Anthony Chen’s The Breaking Ice is a masterclass in emotional restraint. Through silence, atmosphere, and empathy, it tells a story of fragile souls finding momentary freedom.
Verdict: Subtle, elegant, and profoundly moving — The Breaking Ice is not just a romance, but a cinematic meditation on loneliness, healing, and the slow thaw of the human heart.
Similar Movies — For Fans of Quiet, Emotional, and Poetic Drama
If The Breaking Ice touched you, explore these equally introspective and beautifully shot films:
Past Lives (2023): Love, fate, and emotional distance across time.
Drive My Car (2021): Healing and communication through silence and art.
One Fine Morning (2022): A meditation on grief and rediscovery.
Blue Gate Crossing (2002): Youth and unspoken affection in Taiwan.
Eternal Summer (2006): The quiet turbulence of friendship and longing.
Still the Water (2014): Nature and adolescence in poetic balance.
Wet Season (2019): Anthony Chen’s earlier portrait of connection and repression.
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