The Fish Child

The Fish Child is basically a series of tragic and dramatic elements held together through good cinematography and performances.

The film is about a love story between a rich girl named Lala and her family maid La Guayi/Ailin. Told non-linearly, the film mostly follows the events following the murder of Lala’s father. At least one of the girls is guilty of this though Ailin is the one who is blamed and imprisoned. Lala searches for Ailin and learns about her past which is just a whole lotta tragedy.

The Fish Child doesn’t waste time, which I like. The movie opens with the girls together. So we don’t have to spend time getting them together and into that state of young, desperate, illogical love where you think killing someone and running away is a good next step in a relationship. I expected this movie to have the crime these girls commit be the third act but it’s in the first.

Yet what’s weird is what moments the film chooses to focus on. The Fish Child skips over numerous events I would think are key. These include the actual murder as well as the circumstances regarding Ailin getting out of prison. It generally chooses to focus on the moments directly following big moments.

But there is logic to this. The film’s best moments are when it’s quiet and still. There’s a surprising amount of action in the third act and that’s the weakest part of the movie. The strongest part is in the long, moody and meditative shots most common in the second act. One scene in particular when Lala visits Ailin’s home and walks own to the dock behind her house is a slow, moving and beautiful few minutes of film.

The Fish Child is a deeply tragic movie that places some hope in the power of love conquering such elements. But with the movie as tragic as it is, that’s hard to do. While Ailin and Lala end the movie together and alive, the true shittiness of Ailin’s life in particular means I can’t say this film had a happy ending. The film throws quite a lot of tragedy at you and at times goes too far with it to be believable or necessary. Yet the film remains beautiful throughout, so that’s a plus.

Overall rating: 6.1/10

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