大鱼海棠
Big Fish & Begonia
A girl, a boy turned into a fish and a debt to sky and sea
Synopsis
Beneath the sea lives a people who govern the tides and seasons of the human world. At sixteen, Chun turns into a red dolphin for her coming-of-age rite and discovers the human world. A young boy drowns saving her.
Consumed by guilt, Chun makes a pact with the keeper of souls: half her life for the boy's soul, which becomes a little fish she must raise until it can return to the sea. But bringing back a human upsets the balance of her world.
Directed by Liang Xuan and Zhang Chun of B&T studio, the film came out in China on 8 July 2016 after about twelve years of development and a crowdfunding campaign. It draws on the Zhuangzi and Chinese mythology.
World
Chun's world lies beneath the sea, linked to the human world by a passage in the sky. Its inhabitants, neither human nor gods, watch over nature. Their architecture is inspired by the round Tulou houses of Fujian.
Power system
The people of the world below control the elements, grow plants and change the seasons. The souls of the dead can become fish, and the keeper of souls bargains with those who want to bring them back.
Reception & popularity
The film grossed about 565 million yuan in China, one of the best results of its time for an original Chinese animated film. Its visuals won unanimous praise, while its script divided critics.
My take
Big Fish & Begonia is a visual delight: every shot looks like a painting, between sea, sky and round houses. The film paved the way for great Chinese animated films such as Ne Zha.
Its story is sometimes muddled and its characters act on impulses that are hard to follow. But its beauty and melancholy linger long after.
Who is it for?Watch it if you love Ghibli films, melancholy tales and Chinese mythology.
Main characters
More character profiles are coming.
Trivia
- The project began as a 2004 Flash short before becoming a feature film more than ten years later.
- The names Kun (鲲) and Chun (椿) come from the Zhuangzi, which mentions a giant fish named Kun and an ancient tree named Chun.
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