Movies Review – Year of The Fish: A Cautionary Cinderella Fairy Tale
Tired of all the horror movies that dominate ‘what to watch’ lists nowadays (and trust me, there are far more slice-and-dice’ films that ‘slice-of-life’ ones) I opt for an obscure (to me) movie called Year of the Fish. The film is a Chinese variant of the fairy tale Cinderella.The Year of the Fish is based on a ninth century version of the classic fairytale. It stars Tsai Chin, the actress from Joy Luck Club, and Randall Duk Kim from The Matrix Reloaded.
Year of the Fish is an adult fable told thorough a magical carp. The main character Ye Xian, a Chinese immigrant who is a modern-day indentured servant who is forced to work at a massage parlor to pay off what she owes to the proprietor Mrs. Su.
Mrs. Su is a spiteful person, and when Ye Xian refuses to give a customer a massage upon learning that it’s a full-service parlor, Ye Xian is put to work scrubbing floors, cleaning toilets and preparing meals for Mrs. Su and the other girls.
In Chinatown Ye Xian meets a blind hunchback who gives her a good luck fish. She is kindly toward the fish, but when it grows too large for its container Ye Xian takes it to a fountain pond and sets is free.
A few days later when Ye Xian returns from an errand she sees that the meal has already been prepared and she sits down to eat. She discovers that the ‘fish’ on the menu is the magical carp.
Ye Xian’s fairy godmother has been known to eat little children
She saves the bones of the fish, and her act of previous kindness toward the fish endears her to an old blind woman, Auntie Yaga (A witch inspired by the Baba Yaga stories.)
Auntie Yaga is truly a scary character--if she does not like you or if you ask her too many questions she may kill you--but Ye Xian is spared because of her good heart (and the fact that she asks her only three questions) and so auntie Yaga becomes her guide rather her antagonist.
Auntie Yaga gives Ye Xian a beautiful blue dress made from tear drops and tells to wear it at the New Year’s dance. Ye Xian goes to the where Johnny is playing. Johnny is the young man who protected her after being chased by gang members in Chinatown.
Johnny sees her at the dance and gets off the stage so he can dance with her. .
When the dance is over, she surprises Johnny by quickly leaving the dance. Johnny does not know where to find her. A few days pass and one of his friends’ say they saw her at the message parlor.
Johnny finds her in a back room covered with soot----that is to say, ‘dirt’. They kiss and before you can say Auntie Yaga they are married.
And so Ye Xian and Johnny live happily ever after. Well, they live as happily ever after as they can--- in an updated fairytale that draws on the Cinderella story and the Baba Yoga fable—and the movie ends.
Addendum: The Year of the Fish is written and directed by David Kaplan. Kaplan uses the animation technique called Rotoscoping. Rotoscoping is where animators trace over live-action film movement, and the result is an almost surreal movie experience.
Although the technique has been around since 1915 (invented by Max Fleischer), it is now being done for some television spots. The Charles Schwab commercial “Talk to Chuck” is an example of Rotoscoping.
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