One of the AMC theaters near my house has a steady stream of foreign films. A new film showed up recently called A Cool Fish. It is a Chinese film that I have not seen any trailers for. I watched the trailer on my ipad and decided it was worth a shot. My wife and I caught the matinee yesterday.
A Cool Fish is a mildly bizarre action-comedy. In a country of one billion people, about a dozen characters become intertwined in a story that includes bumbling armed robbers, a quadriplegic woman, a security guard, a masseuse and local police. When hooligans rob a phone store (rather than the bank next door), they end up hiding out in the apartment of a quadriplegic woman who wants to die. The security guard used to be a police captain, but was dismissed under dishonorable conditions. He desperately wants to join the local auxiliary police, but it constantly rebuffed. He thinks that he might endear himself to the authorities if he solves the phone store robbery. He sets out to collect the clues, setting in motion a chain of events that culminate in an operation to capture the robbery suspects.
A Cool Fish does not try to be believable. It is an inane romp through the lives of several people who all seem to be interconnected through the security guard in our story. The plot is tightly interwoven with an incredible set of coincidences tying the characters together. It is contrived, but in a humorous way. Humor is the key element to this film. The dialogue is sharp, although the person(s) who translated this film did not do a great job. Many of the translations were awkwardly worded or were grammatically incorrect. Yet the humor came through. The film combines some Crank-like high-speed action scenes with the sharp wit and contrivances to create a story I felt committed to. The narrative arc was nice, but the ending floundered a bit. I would have liked a tighter, happier ending.
A Cool Fish is not rated by the MPAA. My guess is that the MPAA would give this film a PG-13 rating. The film does not have any nudity. There is a scene in a massage parlor that is more humor than sensual. The main theme revolves around the idea of assisted suicide, which is a dark thread that is thoroughly explored in this story. The film also contains an armed robbery and some fight scenes. Overall, the material was only mildly objectionable. I probably would probably stick with tweens, teens and above. Run time is one hour, 49 minutes.
For a film I had not previously heard of, A Cool Fish ended up being a nice diversion. It was likely better than the other films I have not yet seen that are still in theaters. While there were some things that nagged at me, this film was fresh. I think that is the aspect that appealed the most to me. The film explores a variety of Chinese social issues within the context of a nitrogen-fueled drama comedy. Dark comedy. The characters were intriguing. Even the antagonists managed to elicit empathy as the interwoven stories begin to reveal how connected the characters are. The ending could have been better and the sub-titles should be redone at some point, but the overall quality of the film was worthwhile. 7.5/10.
Trailer and images subject to copyright.
