Though it constitutes a fiction film that involves actors in scripted situations, director Zhu Chianming's Winter Story nevertheless employs a pseudo-documentary aesthetic; it unfolds against atmospheric backdrops of Chinese street scenes and local residents filmed unaware, and utilizes naturalistic performances that take on a candid, spontaneous quality in front of Chianming's cameras. The story concerns a nameless protagonist with an ambiguous personal history and background, who spends his days illegally hawking apparel in an impoverished Beijing suburb. He meets a prostitute, seemingly by chance; sensing chemistry, the two immediately strike up a torrid, animalistic affair without the burden of paid transactions, driven by a physical and emotional need for one another. Over the course of its many vicissitudes, the relationship is guided by dangerous expectations that the partners mutually impose on one another.
by Nathan Southern
synopsis
