Year of the Fish
credits:
Director: David KaplanProducers: Janet Yang, Rocco Caruso
Writer: David Kaplan
Cast: Tsai Chin, An Nguyen, Ken Leung, Randall Duk Kim
USA 2007 | 96 mins | HDCAM | English
IN PERSON (at select screenings): David Kaplan, Tsai Chin, Ken Leung
Beguiling and utterly charming, David Kaplan’s magical first feature is a wonder of wonders: a rotoscope animated fairy tale set in New York’s Chinatown. Fresh from its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, YEAR OF THE FISH is amodern-day Cinderella story, set amidst the hustle and bustle of Canal Street.
Ye Xing (An Nguyen) is a young Chinese woman who travels to New York to make money for her ailing father. She falls into the clutches of massage parlor madame Mrs. Su (a wonderously venomous Tsai Chin), and after refusing to give “massages” is forced to do all of the parlor’s cooking and cleaning.
She takes solace in a fish (the film’s charming, self-effacing narrator, given to her by a mysterious hunchback), who earnestly wants to save her, but only grows and grows until he is too big for his bowl. All the while, Ye Xing falls for a kindhearted accordian player out of her reach (Ken Leung) and is pursued by Mrs. Su’s leacherous son. Hope is not lost, however, and magic does happen on the day of the new year, at the Chinatown banquet that everyone wants to get into….
Warmed by its vibrant, revelatory animation (where each frame of live-action was painted and brought to life), YEAR OF THE FISH shows off New York City like you’ve never seen it. Enchanting, lovingly-made and deeply satisfying, each ounce of the film is imbued with the City’s heart and soul—its hopes, dreams and attitude.
—Chi-hui Yang
