The film gets lots of smiles, but not many hearty laughs. It is a film of restrained emotions, as well as a film that moves at its own slow pace, and is filled with teases. The interesting fact is that it is also one that mixes cinema with reality. While the filmmakers had an idea of the story and some of its narrative elements clearly laid out, they were also open to whatever they might encounter along the journey. Therefore, the leading character meets a man who attempted suicide and laughs about it. An eccentric individual who rides a cicycle and passionately spreads the word of Jesus Christ. And so on.
This is part of the aforementioned organic construction of the film, that was malleable, and indeed shaped by the journey which HERZOG and GUENTER, along with a sound recordist, undertook themselves. It is experimental cinema with traditionalist elements. For instance, the camera always appears to be firmly planted on a tripod, unlike the improvisational technique that might usually be reflected by handheld camera work in similar films. In fact, GUENTER, who additionally took care of the cinematography, initially shot the film in colour before turning the film to black and white, which is a choice that not only recalls a traditionalist type of cinema, but also accentuates the coldness that the Swiss setting in winter, referenced in the title, is bound to evoke.
HERZOG plays the JACQUES TATI figure of the film. His passive nature can be overtly frustrating a times, but of course, the idea behind it is that there must be a reason why the man has not been able to commit and produce a feature length project in six years. But what is most harrowing is the representation of the breakdown ofhis relationship, which begins with his girlfriend requesting a break in which no contact is allowed. This is a haunting car crash background element that is poignant and a times absolutely disturbing because it is treated with disarming honesty. At a stand out moment in the film, he talks to a girl working at the bar who tells him that once a woman makes her mind to have a baby, she will give up true love for the sake of being safe to satisfy teh needs of her biological clocks. This is, in a perverse way, exactly what he needs to hear. In another stand out moment, he spends the night talking to a girl, and is momentarily distracted by her presence and concersation - but when he moves in for the "kill", he is let down in such a direct and natural way that it feels absolutely painful.
WINTER GUEST suffers from moments of dullness. The pace of the film is not fluid enough to come across as being immersive by atmosphere alone. It tends to standardize all its emotions far too easily because of its dedication to a cohesive deadpan comedy style. The reason, however, why it ultimately works is because of its portrayal of the lost, confused and disoriented leading character. So honest is this portrayal that it can be universally understood and not necessarily relegated to the world of filmmaking.
