Tropical Fish (Chinese: 熱帶魚; pinyin: Rèdài Yú; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Jia̍t-tài Hî) is a 1995 Taiwanese comedy-drama film written and directed by Chen Yu-hsun. It is an example of New Taiwanese Cinema.[1]

Tropical Fish
熱帶魚
Rèdài Yú
Taiwanese DVD cover
Directed byChen Yu-hsun
Written byChen Yu-hsun
Produced byChung Hu-pin
StarringLin Cheng-sheng
Lin Chia-hung
Wen Ying
Music byWu Bai & China Blue
Production
company
Central Pictures Company
Release date
  • 1995 (1995)
Running time
108 minutes
CountryTaiwan
LanguagesTaiwanese, Mandarin Chinese
Japanese cover
Japanese cover

Plot

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The movie tells the story of Liu Chih-chiang (劉志強, played by Lin Chia-hung [林嘉宏]), a disaffected Taipei high school student who is kidnapped and taken by Ah Ching (阿慶, played by the filmmaker Lin Cheng-sheng) to rural Chiayi County in southern Taiwan.

Locations

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Chih-chiang's school scenes were filmed at Bailing Senior High School (百齡高中) in Shilin, Taipei, while several other scenes were filmed in Daan District.[2] The kidnappers hold Chih-chiang in Dongshi, a coastal Chiayi County township noted for its oyster production. The end of the film shows the business district of Dunhua Road in Taipei.

Music

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In addition to the music score, two songs by Wu Bai & China Blue, "This Continuous Sinking" (繼續墮落) (from their 1994 album Wanderer's Love Song) and "Go to the Graveyard" (墓仔埔也敢去) are featured in the movie. Different (live) versions of both songs were released on Wu Bai & China Blue's 1995 live album (伍佰的LIVE).

Awards

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At Taiwan's 1995 Golden Horse Film Festival, Chen Yu-hsun won the award for Best Screenplay Originally Written for the Screen and Wen Ying (文英) won Best Supporting Actress for her role as Ah Yi (阿姨).[3] Chen Yu-hsun was also nominated for a Golden Leopard for the film at the 1995 Locarno International Film Festival.[4]

References

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  1. ^ 熱帶魚 \ 夢想與現實之間 Archived 13 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine (Tropical Fish: Between Dream and Reality.) Retrieved 5 March 2010. (in Chinese)
  2. ^ 熱帯魚: 映画の舞台と主なロケ地 Archived 6 February 2010 at the Wayback Machine (Tropical Fish: Filming Locations) Retrieved 5 March 2010. (in Japanese)
  3. ^ Golden Horse Film Festival: 1995 at the Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 1 April 2010.
  4. ^ Locarno International Film Festival: 1995 at the Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 1 April 2010.
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