Year of the Fish (2006)

58% of critics liked it
(24 reviews)
53% of users liked it
(437 ratings)

Writer/director David Kaplan offers a new spin on the familiar Cinderella story with this visually inventive tale of a hopeful Chinese immigrant who discovers that life in New York City isn't for the faint of heart after being forced to work in a shady massage partner. Shot on video and subsequently… More Writer/director David Kaplan offers a new spin on the familiar Cinderella story with this visually inventive tale of a hopeful Chinese immigrant who discovers that life in New York City isn't for the faint of heart after being forced to work in a shady massage partner. Shot on video and subsequently rotoscoped to take on a slightly surreal look, Year of the Fish opens to find wide-eyed Chinese immigrant Ye Xian (An Nguyen) arriving in New York City in hopes of raising some money to send back to her ailing father overseas. Soon falling into the neon-lit lair of "massage parlor" madame Mrs. Su (Tsai Chin), Ye is forced to do all of the cooking and cleaning after refusing to service her clientele as instructed. All the while, Ye's only sense of solace comes thanks to a growing fish bestowed upon her by a mysterious hunchback named Auntie Yaga (Randall Duk Kim). Meanwhile, Ye longs to catch the eye of kindhearted jazz musician Johnny (Ken Leung) while fending off unwanted advances of Mrs. Su's depraved and persistent son. Just when it begins to seem as if Ye's situation cannot get any more grim, a lavish party staged to celebrate the Chinese New Year leads to a most unanticipated turn of events. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 36 min.
Directed By: David Kaplan
Written By: David Kaplan
Genres: Drama, Animation, Romance, Art House & International, Science Fiction & Fantasy

In Theaters: Oct 14, 2007 Wide
On DVD: Feb 8, 2011
Studio: Gigantic Pictures

Critic Reviews

V.A. Musetto, New York Post
The director-writer, David Kaplan, is able to hold our attention, and the film's unusual look lends a magical feeling.
Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle
Too raw for kids and too simplistic for adults.
Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News
David Kaplan's sweet, if superficial, fairy tale won't change the world, but it makes nice use of its setting (Chinatown) and visual style (rotoscope animation).
Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times
An adult fable told with childlike simplicity, Year of the Fish updates an ancient Chinese version of the Cinderella story with imagination, charm and just the right amount of sweetness.
Bob Mondello, NPR.org
Kaplan keeps the story breezy and brisk, and provides his down-to-earthily modern fairy tale with an appropriately other-worldly visual style.
Vadim Rizov, Village Voice
Year of the Fish is the kind of really bad movie it takes a lot of misplaced conviction to make.
Burl Burlingame, Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Making the film 'animated' creates a remove from the harshness of reality, like erecting a scrim between performer and audience, but it also makes for a certain glow.
Marjorie Baumgarten, Austin Chronicle
Without the animation layered on top of the action, the film would be thoroughly lacking in dramatic interest.
Stan Hall, Oregonian
A re-imagining of Cinderella set in a massage parlor in New York's Chinatown, David Kaplan's film juxtaposes grime and exploitation with winsomeness and superstition.
Jeff Shannon, Seattle Times
Apart from the debut of appealing An Nguyen and a pet fish instead of a magic slipper, there's nothing particularly innovative here, and the film's seedy milieu ensures that it's anything but a kid-friendly fairy tale.
Bill White, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Year of the Fish is an eye-opener for those unfamiliar with the tribulations many immigrants endure on their road to American citizenship.
Diva Velez, TheDivaReview.com
Charming and dreamlike, Year of the Fish wrings every dime out of its low budget with wonderful performances that are by parts adorable, sharp and sweet and certainly worth a look.
Cole Smithey, ColeSmithey.com
Although writer/director David Kaplan attempts to elevate his amateur narrative attempt with the same rotoscoping animation technique that Richard Linklater used to great effect with "Waking Life" and "A Scanner Darkly," the effect comes across as overwro
John P. McCarthy, Boxoffice Magazine
The result [of the animation technique] is similar to the look of Richard Linklater's A Scanner Darkly, but much softer and more fluid. It's ideal for the storybook plot and quite dazzling at times.
Maitland McDonagh, TV Guide's Movie Guide
That kind of broadness plays fine in Disney movies, but feels deeply when applied to the world of undocumented sex workers, urban poverty and economic exploitation that looks a lot like 21st-century slavery.
Tasha Robinson, AV Club
To some degree, it's trying to find the magic in the everyday, but the attempts to ground it are cringe-inducing and problematic.
Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out New York
Even animation addicts might find their eyes glazing over at this digitally rotoscoped Cinderella story set in an oh-so-magical modern-day Chinatown.
Mark Peikert, New York Press
Year of the Fish does feature more than enough clever moments and ideas to compensate for forcing audiences to sit through yet another tale of a woman who needs a man to rescue her from a life of drudgery.