Liu Haoran, Zhou Dongyu, and Qu Chuxiao reveal the character endings, Shanghai Roadshow Film for "Burning Winter" | Shanghai | Zhou Dongyu
The Shanghai produced film "Burning Winter" opened its first nationwide roadshow in Shanghai on the day of its release on August 22nd. The film tells the story of three strangers who meet in a heartbeat during a winter, and was nominated for the "One Focus" competition at the 76th Cannes Film Festival.
The movie poster is titled "He She He", and the relationship between the three becomes a mystery, which inevitably leads to speculation about "who loves whom". The film is quite thought-provoking in expressing emotional relationships, and even after watching the entire 97 minute film, the audience still inevitably has this kind of doubt. At the Shanghai roadshow on August 22nd, director Chen Zheyi, starring Zhou Dongyu, Liu Haoran, and Qu Chuxiao, shared the original intention and character ending of the film with the audience.
"I heard that the title of 'Burning Winter' comes from the names of the three main characters, Liu Haoran's name, Zhou Dongyu's name, and Qu Chuxiao's name, which are not pronounced." At the roadshow, an audience member laughed and shared a popular internet meme about the film. On the surface, "Burning Winter" seems to have filmed a story about "triangle love". Nana, Haofeng, and Han Xiao are three young people with completely different living environments: "Shanghai drifter" Haofeng came from Shanghai to the border town of Yanji to attend his classmate's wedding; His one-day tour guide Nana is enthusiastic and sensitive, but hides a sad past; Nana's old friend Han Xiao works at a restaurant, seemingly carefree and casual, but always manages to restrain her emotions and yearn for the outside world. Three young people developed a profound and tacit relationship in a short period of time, even riding the same motorcycle together. How to view the relationship between three people depends on their different definitions of the boundaries of friends.
It is difficult to define "Burning Winter" as a traditional romantic film, and this non-traditional narrative style also conveys the director's observation and expression of the emotions of the current young group. "The emotions in the movie are very complex, not black and white, not so singular," said Chen Zheyi. In addition to exploring love, the self-healing of young people is also the theme of the film. As a Singaporean director, he left the tropics and arrived for the first time in a northern winter border city. Inspired by the huge environmental and temperature differences, "Burning Winter" emerged: "It's very special, I hope it's a love letter I wrote to young people born in the 1990s.".
In the movie, Nana was once a figure skater who gave up her dream due to injury and hid in Yanji as a tour guide. Han Xiao is a young man who has lost his dream and once chose to lie flat. Haofeng works in finance in Shanghai, seemingly successful in his career. He is wearing a watch that Nana and Han Xiao describe as "unaffordable in the next life." However, his frequent abnormal behavior of swallowing ice cubes and unnatural tears reveal his inner pain.
"Burning Winter" is only 97 minutes long, with a sudden ending that makes many viewers feel as if the story is not yet finished. In fact, each character has their own clear ending. At the roadshow, Zhou Dongyu introduced that when Nana finally called her mother, it meant she was ready to go home and continue her figure skating. "After a journey of healing, she reconciled with herself. If there were any extras in the movie, I believe Nana would dedicate her entire life to figure skating. Even if she couldn't skate anymore, she could still teach others."
At the end, Han Xiao rode his motorcycle all the way forward, which meant he planned to start a new chapter of his own. "Life always requires the courage to open a new chapter at any time," Qu Chuxiao said.
In the movie, Liu Haoran appeared without makeup, gaining weight and growing a beard. Through changes in appearance, he became closer to the character and made the image of Haofeng, a disappointed and slightly decadent young man, more full. In Liu Haoran's view, all three characters in the movie have their own problems, anxiety, and pain. Compared to other characters, Haofeng's pain is the most difficult to solve. "His anxiety is not concrete, he cannot reconcile with himself, but throughout the journey, he meets young people who are similar to him and learns to coexist with his own anxiety. At the end, he also puts down his inner burden. Learning to coexist with pain is important."
Everyone has a different interpretation of "Burning Winter". Actor Jiang Shuying came to the scene to watch the movie, and she said, "I really like the process of the three protagonists wandering in Yanji. It was also the process of comforting and accompanying each other when they encountered difficulties and bottlenecks in life. There are many confusions in life, and many things are difficult to express. For friends, the most important thing to do is to be accompanied, which is also a form of emotional expression."
The film Burning Winter was produced by Shanghai Huace Film Co., Ltd., Tropical Rain Film Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Hengdian Film Co., Ltd., and jointly produced by Shanghai Sanciyuan Film Co., Ltd., Jiangsu Film Group Co., Ltd., Tianjin Maoyan Weiying Culture Media Co., Ltd., Beijing Weimengchuangke Network Technology Co., Ltd., and Yunnan Yinghong Film Co., Ltd. It was released nationwide on Qixi Festival on August 22.
