Sydney Film Festival (16) - Barrie Pattison reports on A FISH (Park Hongmin, South Korea, 2011, 98 minutes)

First film of Hong-min Park it’s Korean director, who spent a year absorbing the atmosphere of the location.It’s a mistake to try and construct a plot out of non consecutive glimpses of a Professor whose wife has left him and a private detective who has located her as a Shaman, intercut with two fishermen in a fog bound studio row boat having a  Beckett like conversation about the stupidity of fish . When that pair decide to sashimi the catch, it chants in protest and the characters all get to meet in a shack where the reflections in the mirror are wrong. Much banging heads with rocks. 

Throw in a bit of Cocteau (the character looking over the side for the one who isn’t in his boat anymore) and some Buddhist ritual. 

Well weird is all right and there are a few moments and images that do intrigue here but not enough to reward viewing at this length. 

The 3D photography makes the textures of  waves & straw matting striking and achieves the floating image quality we don’t get much now, making this the film’s major asset.