Movies
Director: Xiaolu Guo
Screenwriters: Rao Hui, Xiaolu Guo
Starring: Rao Hui, Yang Zi Yang
Running time: 83 mins
How Is Your Fish Today? opens on Rao Hui, a 33-year-old scribe who makes his living writing for TV soaps because his film scripts keep getting banned. His latest script, Northern Lights, proves no exception. Accepting the fact that it could be better, he tries again and this time really tries to see through the eyes of his protagonist, a young man in southern China who flees to the northern border after killing his lover.
For his part, Beijing-based Rao's disillusionment with his solitude and lonely existence is also drawn to the same Sino-Russian border town of Mohe. When he arrives, both threads of the film come together as Rao discovers his hero lying dead on the ice.
Named after a phrase that the Russian and Chinese fishermen would exchange, How Is Your Fish Today? began life as a documentary about Mohe. However, when the crew arrived at what is essentially an uneventful fishing village, both lack of material and harsh conditions forced a change of approach. At this point Guo's real-life screenwriter friend Hui was summoned to provide a narrative element.
The finished film still has an overarching documentary feel to it and is very successful in shedding light on a little-known part of China, portraying the desolate destination in stark contrast to the southern, urban settings. The dialogue is often quite sparse, inviting the audience to savour the beautiful visuals and geographical extremes.
Espousing messages of yearning and a sense of belonging, Guo's film looks at extremes and breaks the boundaries between them, be it between the genres of documentary and fictional narrative, reality and fantasy, or examining the stark differences between urban and rural China.
Informative and innovative, How Is Your Fish Today? is a ponderous film that the more patient audiences will find rewarding.
Screenwriters: Rao Hui, Xiaolu Guo
Starring: Rao Hui, Yang Zi Yang
Running time: 83 mins
How Is Your Fish Today? opens on Rao Hui, a 33-year-old scribe who makes his living writing for TV soaps because his film scripts keep getting banned. His latest script, Northern Lights, proves no exception. Accepting the fact that it could be better, he tries again and this time really tries to see through the eyes of his protagonist, a young man in southern China who flees to the northern border after killing his lover.
For his part, Beijing-based Rao's disillusionment with his solitude and lonely existence is also drawn to the same Sino-Russian border town of Mohe. When he arrives, both threads of the film come together as Rao discovers his hero lying dead on the ice.
Named after a phrase that the Russian and Chinese fishermen would exchange, How Is Your Fish Today? began life as a documentary about Mohe. However, when the crew arrived at what is essentially an uneventful fishing village, both lack of material and harsh conditions forced a change of approach. At this point Guo's real-life screenwriter friend Hui was summoned to provide a narrative element.
The finished film still has an overarching documentary feel to it and is very successful in shedding light on a little-known part of China, portraying the desolate destination in stark contrast to the southern, urban settings. The dialogue is often quite sparse, inviting the audience to savour the beautiful visuals and geographical extremes.
Espousing messages of yearning and a sense of belonging, Guo's film looks at extremes and breaks the boundaries between them, be it between the genres of documentary and fictional narrative, reality and fantasy, or examining the stark differences between urban and rural China.
Informative and innovative, How Is Your Fish Today? is a ponderous film that the more patient audiences will find rewarding.
More: Movies, Edinburgh Film Festival
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