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Rao Xiaozhi’s second feature tackles hot-button social issues in China
A Cool Fish
Dir: Rao Xiaozhi. China. 2018. 109 mins
An assortment of desperate characters find themselves on a collision course in Rao Xiaozhi’s second feature A Cool Fish. Aiming for a mix of postmodern caper and grassroots social commentary, it’s a hectically plotted misfire that comes up short on both fronts. With a Chinese opening set against Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald and the second weekend of Venom, the film very much an underdog which will fight hard for local audiences thanks to its downbeat take on China’s overstretched society, although it landed in third position with $9.5m over its first three days. It also gets a simultaneous limited theatrical run overseas from China Lion, where audiences accustomed to the upscale aesthetic of the distributor’s usual fare may be put off by the grubby palette.
Suxi Ren steals the film with a stingingly honest performance that shows how citizens marginalised by society as a result of their physical...