Julio meets with Gazmuri, an established writer who needs someone to type up the manuscript of his latest novel. He ends up not getting the job. Instead of confessing this to Blanca - his neighbor and lover - he decides to make believe he is still transcribing Gazmuri's presumed novel, which he is actually writing himself. In need of a plot, Julio turns to the romance he had 8 years earlier with Emilia when both were studying literature in Valdivia.

BONSAI is the second feature directed by Cristián Jiménez, after “Optical Illusions”, which premièred at San Sebastian 2009 and was shown in Japan, France, Sweden, Lithuania, India, Italy, Venezuela, Brazil, Poland, the United States, Australia and Germany. The film had a commercial release in France, England, Australia, Russia, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Hungary, Poland, the United States and Chile.