Nothing Lasts

Two relationships sit at the heart of this contemplative short from China, written, directed, produced and edited by Xiaosheng Zhuang. Sometimes the people in them are close; sometimes they drift far apart, and the film follows how their intimacy shifts and changes as time passes and distance comes between them. Rather than building toward a conventional plot, Nothing Lasts works as a portrait, catching its couples in moments of connection and separation and trusting the viewer to sense what lies between them. Running 15 minutes, the Chinese-language film blends romance and drama in a quiet, reflective register, paying attention to small gestures and to the spaces people leave for one another. As its title suggests, it is a meditation on impermanence — on how love changes shape over the years, and on what remains of a relationship when circumstances keep pulling the people in it in different directions.