Review of A Cool Fish (2018) by Kman5473 — 26 Nov 2018

This film feels like those 90's British, multi-character crime films like "Snatch", but is able to thoroughly distance itself and really make it its own thing. Easily the best contemporary Chinese film I have yet seen, I definitely think this film works on many levels.

The acting, the writing, and the different themes being played out are done with precision and are equally entertaining. Spoilers from here on out! You have been warned. As with almost all new Chinese movies I have seen recently, the third act of the film is where everything sort of falls apart.

The gangster/mob boss that is fought at the beginning and the end of the film was never built up enough as the primary antagonist throughout the plot for it to make sense that he should be confronted in the end.

Furthermore, it makes pretty much no sense how he is defeated with thousands (literally) of people showing up to fight he and his gang. It was not clear that they were high school students, nor was it clear why the high school students were the ones that "had" to do the fighting.

The incompetence of the police throughout does add to the humor and some of the tension, but some of it is a little too much of a "gimme" for my taste. The conflict between Jianbin Chen's character and his daughter really never took shape.

We see that there is conflict between them because he cannot afford to pay her tuition and she is humiliated to some degree by that, but it's a bit superficial for her to be that upset about it. There was no moment of the daughter fully realizing how much of a mistake it was that she doesn't love/trust/depend upon/appreciate her father.