Yolanda Chu | Contributor
Featured Image: The feature film of Taiwanese director Lai Kuo-An is an aesthetic masterpiece about loss and the journey to happiness. | Courtesy of TIFF
The Toronto International Film Festival, or TIFF, kicked off on September 7 this year. Director Lai Kuo-An, a highly experienced and esteemed Taiwanese music video and commercial director, is one of the international filmmakers who had the chance to premier his latest work at the festival. Lai debuted his first feature, A Fish Out Of Water, with an intriguing premise: a young boy becomes obsessed in finding his “past parents” who fished in a small village by the sea.
The little boy in the film, Yi-An, is lost in a lingering memory of his past life. This obsession prevents him from having a normal life, both at school and home. His parents are frustrated with their son’s condition. However, as both of them struggle to make a living and as their marriage falls apart, their son is driven further away from his parents and friends. He dives far deeper into the memories of a life long gone—a life by the sea.
The recurring theme of water serves as a realm for the little boy to escape to, exemplified by the movie opening on and ending with a scene of Yi-An standing by the sea and staring at the open water. The metaphor allows the audience to reflect on Yi-An’s actions and desire. It hints and questions if his obsession with the memories of the sea in his past life are, in part, born from his desire to escape a suffocating and straining family dynamic.
Lai creates this possibility of a sad reality by reflecting aspects of life that we all go through: the passing of a loved one, or going through pain from a broken heart. His inspiration for this theme stems from his relationship with his ill father.
“My time spent in taking care of my father, who has cancer, inspired me to make this movie,” Lai explained in Mandarin. “The original intention of the movie is to remind people to never forget the happiness that we had, and often lose, through various pressures in life.”
A Fish Out Of Water not only conveys the struggles we endure throughout our lives, but it also reminds us of exactly what Lai described. Although it’s one of the many Chinese films that feature common ethical issues in tradition-focused Chinese families, such as a failing marriage, it still reminds us of the good aspects in life. Lai uses water imagery to represent the idea of escape from all the pressures and worries of mundane life, even having had connections to spiritual and supernatural significance. The film creates a tranquil mood, allowing its audience to not dwell on their own trials.
Lai’s directorial creativity in exposing the cultural concept of past lives that is unique to Asian families allows the story to transcend time. He is able to connect all of us through the common experiences of heartbreak and sorrow. A Fish Out Of Water is an originative film that engages its audience with aesthetically pleasing cinematic shots, while still reminding them that everything will turn out alright in the end.
