Film Review: BREAKING THE ICE: Romantic Sports Drama is Better When it’s Off the Ice [Tribeca 2022]

Breaking the Ice Review

Breaking the Ice (2022) Film Review from the 21st Annual Tribeca Film Festival, a movie written and directed by Clara Stern and starring Alina Schaller, Judith Altenberger, Wolfgang Bock, Pia Herzegger and Tobias Samuel Resch.

Conventional sports movies have become mundane and are commonplace in American cinema. No matter how good King Richard was (and it was very good), it felt a bit ordinary in some of its display of rousing sports victories. In the new Austrian movie, Breaking the Ice, the mechanics of the sports scenes (dealing with ice hockey) feel pretty run-of-the-mill at times but the movie’s lead performance by Alina Schaller is simply groundbreaking. This character which Schaller plays is one we don’t see enough of in movies today. Schaller plays Mira, one of the best players on an Austrian hockey team of all women. As written and directed by Clara Stern, Breaking the Ice showcases some phenomenal scenes of angst and yearning and as portrayed by Schaller, Mira’s confusion and passion regarding her life choices makes the movie a definite success. Those emotional sequences in the picture raise Breaking the Ice up to the top of the list of recent sports dramas.

Working in her family’s vineyard takes a toll on Mira who sometimes shows up late to her hockey games. Mira plays on the team known as the Dragons. Her grandmother died while on the way to receive medical help. She was being transported by Mira’s brother Paul (Tobias Samuel Resch) at the time. Pia Herzegger co-stars in the movie as Mira’s mother and she is tough for Mira to live with. Mira escapes her day-to-day endeavors by playing hockey and eventually takes a liking to a female on the team named Theresa (Judith Altenberger). Meanwhile, Mira’s grandfather (Wolfgang Bock) is losing his memory. Mira’s mom is doing her best to hold it all together at home and despite Paul’s departure from the family, seems to be holding on. If just by a thread.

While the hockey scenes are all nicely edited, the movie rests on its love story between Mira and Theresa which could have been its own movie altogether if there was a little less time spent on the ice. Schaller and Altenberger set the screen on fire with their steamy romance. There is plenty of beautiful chemistry between these two actresses which makes the relationship come to life whether they’re fighting, making up or making love. Schaller’s raw vulnerability should be commended while Altenberger more than proves she’s capable of rising to the level of Schaller’s performance in the later scenes in the movie.

There is an excellent scene set on a bus where players on the female hockey team play music and lip sync to their favorite songs. This is an example of how well the movie does when it’s off the ice. Even when Mira starts to make herself more masculine with a fake beard in one scene, Schaller is fascinating to watch. She’s gorgeous but she has a strong personality that makes her one of the most memorable female lead characters I’ve seen in a while. She dresses in her brother Paul’s clothes at one point to her mother’s disliking in a heartbreaking scene.

There is some predictability in some of the hockey scenes. While the ending is stand up and cheer good, it’s conventional and is hardly groundbreaking cinema. However, the family drama which the movie presents is so much more emotionally involving. Schaller and Herzegger share some great dramatic moments together which heighten the intensity of the picture.

Breaking the Ice also benefits greatly from a terrific use of songs. They move the scenes forward smoothly with little time for any sort of boredom to set in. In fact, this is one of the most entertaining movies of the year for its pacing and excellent use of family dramatics that captivate the audience throughout. All the scenes in the movie ring true with their occasional awkwardness and realism.

Schaller may not be recognized as strongly as she deserves to be due to the conventional nature of the picture’s sports scenes but it would be wrong not to give her the recognition she deserves for her totally fascinating portrayal of a young woman who is experiencing angst, love and sexuality against the backdrop of playing hockey and dealing with a tense situation at home. Schaller is truly an actress to watch.

Breaking the Ice is a totally absorbing movie that works best when its scenes are off the ice but hockey fans may enjoy the sports themed scenes a bit more than I did. In any event, this is definitely a movie you will want to see even if it is just to experience the presence of a fresh new talented actress. Schaller makes this picture directed with terrific precision by Stern a stand up and cheer movie in which you may cheer more for the romance than for the actual sports sequences.

Rating: 7.5/10

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