Korean Park taught himself to film in 3D for his debut. Viewers are cleverly fed a red herring in the shape of a philosophy professor who hears that his vanished wife is on an island training to be a shaman. The professor drops everything and goes in search of her.
Park Hong-Min’s feature debut A Fish is the first 3-D film in the Rotterdam Tiger Awards Competition, and that 3-D form does justice to the various dimensions overlapping in this metaphysical mystery in a fascinating way.
Little by little, the filmmaker reveals where this unfortunate road movie is taking its characters. At first not much seems to happen. In a roadside restaurant, the troubled protagonist, Professor Lee, picks up the detective who says he has found Lee's missing wife on an island off the coast. The men head for the sea, but instead of taking the ferry that evening, they must look for alternative transport the next day. That night, the professor has a curious dream.
Park, who is still studying directing in Seoul, maintains a realistic style that hides the true nature of events for a long time. But what at first seems like a series of absurd situations slowly changes into a moving and decisive coming-of-age story. A story that leans on the symbolic meaning of water and fish, even though Park clearly does not want to explain or reveal too much. When one of the characters suggests to another that their conversation is starting to sound philosophical, they immediately stop, saying they don’t have anything sensible to say. This characterises the playful and provocative way in which A Fish tries to fathom the very last moment we will eventually all experience.
The announcement text contained many promises, but none of these became true. We saw a lot of symbolism, all of these probably meaning something, but they lost me in the process. Take for example the restaurant scene (a “dream” according to the announcement), and the ample usage of mirrors.
About the 3D: It was made much too explicit, showing off a new gimmick, starting with the police offices knocking on the car window in the opening scene, to lecture our main character about speeding. This way it remains on the surface, like we had with stereo sound in the 1960's. Unlike what the director told us, it does not make focus stronger, nor does it emphasize what the director want to emphasize. Rather, it distracts from the real contents.
I was hoping that the final Q&A would reveal something interesting, while the latter was missing from this film. Alas, the Q&A did not add anything useful, but I'll try to recall some quotes. The two fishermen we repeatedly see sitting in a boat, got no reasonable explanation. It boiled down to the statement that viewers can be fish as well as fishermen. The story came forth partly from Korean folklore, ánd partly made up for this film. It basically starts with a wife who looses a child, leaves her husband subsequently, and converts to shamanism. What can her husband do? Yet, according to the director, what happened is not important, since life is full of uncertainties.
All in all, I could not make anything out of these “explanations”. Until today I liked most Korean movies and I hope to see better ones in days to come, but this one is a definite setback.
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Webreview from JvH48 on 05 February 11:42
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Mark as improper
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A unusually fachinating, magic film with a mysterious plot and deep simbolik. It has a lot of levels for understanding, leaves a lot of space to think about, all it's dialogues are full of meanings. But this film is not so spectacular as it can be expected by the 3d-lovers. 3d here has more philosophical base.
One of the best film's i've seen on the festival. In the best eastern tradition. But not for stupid people.
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Webreview from Irina Popova on 03 February 19:19
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Mark as improper
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De eerste 3D film die ooit op het IFFR draait en hij zit ook nog in de Tiger-awards competitie. Ik had dus bepaalde verwachtingen. Zelden een slechtere film gezien. Geen verhaal, slecht camera werk, verward script en erg houterig acteerwerk. Een film doordrenkt met metaforen maar geen idee waarvan. Halve zaal lag te slapen. Snel vergeten.
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Webreview from hans on 30 January 09:34
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Mark as improper
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