Blurring the boundaries between fiction and reality, a scriptwriter follows his main character on a journey to a northern Chinese village, where the young man has fled after murdering his lover.
Screened as part of NZIFF 2007
How Is Your Fish Today? 2007
Jin tian de yi zen me yang?
Blurring the boundaries between fiction and reality, How Is Your Fish Today? tells the engaging story of a scriptwriter, played by Rao Hui, the fictional co-writer of this film. One day Hui accepts a commission to write a screenplay about Lin Hao, a young man from southern Guangdong who has murdered his lover. Lin flees to Mohe, the most northerly village of China, and as Hui writes about his long journey north, he travels there himself, becoming intrigued by this place which people believe is permanently bathed in the glow of the aurora borealis. Interacting with a number of colourful travellers en route, documentary morphs into drama as he finally arrives in Mohe and meets up with his fictional character.
"Xiaolu Guo's film is concerned with the distinction between truth and fiction - or, possibly, reality and propaganda - in the search for knowledge. Parts of the film are shot in a documentary style... Other sections feel almost like the work of Wong Kar-wai; beautifully shot and scored, using vibrant colours to highlight the fictional element of the story." — George Williamson, Eye for Film