1HE MERMAID

1HE MERMAID

《美人魚》

Měirényú

Director: Stephen Chow

Despite being a comedy， there’s something disturbingly dark about Stephen Chow’s latest film The Mermaid. Take a Katherine Heigl rom-com， add Jurassic Park， the Looney Tunes， Alice in Wonderland， and the most disturbing nightmare you ever had as a child and you might get something along the lines of Chow’s recent project. Having grossed 523 million USD in the Chinese box office alone， The Mermaid is already one of the highest earning pictures of all time in China， beating out worldwide sales of the Hollywood action blockbuster Deadpool.

Chow， whose previous films have included the likes of Kung Fu Hustle， Journey to the West: Conquering Demons， and Shaolin Soccer， is one of the key figures establishing the vernacular of modern Chinese slapstick comedy. The absurdity of Chow’s comedic style employs singing and dancing， Tom-and-Jerrystyle chase scenes， and a host of other techniques Chow has developed over the years. The Mermaid is no exception: a young mermaid is sent to assassinate a real estate developer who has polluted the oceans；instead， （spoilers， if it can be called that， ahead） they fall in love.

It’s the most accessible bit of classic Chow tomfoolery mixed with environmental fable since Kung Fu Hustle， and yet， Sony Pictures gave it an incredibly limited release in the US， signaling the final end to the days of domestic US theatrical releases of Chinese films. It’s sad， because The Mermaid genuinely has something to offer to audiences of all nationalities: a hilarious parable of environmentalism that seeks to emphasize the ecological devastation of environmental pollutionthrough farcical humor and a complete fairy-tale love story that’s so absurd that nearly anyone should get the point.

The film begins with a slapstick venture through the “Museum of World Exotic Animals” somewhere along the Guangdong coast， a jab at the eating culture of Guangdong，known for consuming （to near extinction） many of the animals that live there. It’s also a commentary on the current depleted state of the animal kingdom； the pudgy “museum owner” displays a bunch of fake exhibits including a hybrid of a salted mackerel.

Liu Xuan （Deng Chao）， a self-made millionaire and real-estate developer，is looking to acquire the Green Gulf；a protected cove which is home to a rare dolphins. In order to follow through with his dastardly plan to develop it into ocean front property，he hires a team of sonar-wielding boatmen to chase out all the marine life with their powerful sound guns. Unbeknownst to him， the cove is also the sanctuary for merpeople， and the new weapons cause many of them to fall sick and die. The last of them now reside in the belly of a sunken

Shanshan： You are crying because it tastes so good， right？ I cried the first time I tried it.

Hǎo chī de kū le ba？ Wǒ dì yī cì chī de shíhou wǒ yě kū le.

好吃得哭了吧？我第一次吃的時候我也哭了。

Liu Xuan： It reminds me of my father. Back then， our family was impoverished and we had to pick up leftovers off streets. One day， my father brought back half a chicken leg. It tasted just like this. So， from a young age I decided， I…

Wǒ xiǎngqǐ wǒ bà. Nàge shíhou， wǒ jiā lǐ hěn kǔ， wǒmen zhǐnéng shàngjiē jiǎn chīde. Yǒu yì tiān wǒ bà jiǎn le bàn zhī jītuǐ huílai. Jiùshì zhège wèidao. Suǒyǐ，wǒ cóngxiǎo jiù lìzhì， wǒ……

我想起我爸。那個時候，我家里很苦，我們只能上街撿吃的。有一天我爸撿了半只雞腿回來。就是這個味道。所以，我從小就立志，我……

S： You have a lot of grease on your month. ［she wipes it for him.］

Nǐ zuǐshang yǒu hěnduō yóu.

你嘴上有很多油。

L： So， from a young age I decided to make a lot of money in the future.

Suǒyǐ ne， wǒ cóngxiǎo jiù lìzhì， wǒ wèilái yào zhèng hěnduō hěnduō qián.

所以呢，我從小就立志，我未來要掙很多很多錢。

S： What do you need that much money for？

Zhuàn nàme duō qián gàn ma？

賺那么多錢干嘛？

L： Is there anything more important than money in this world？

Zhège shìjiè shàng háiyǒu shénme bǐ qián gèng zhòngyào de ne？

這個世界上還有什么比錢更重要的呢？

S： If there’s not a single drop of clean water， a single breath of fresh air left on the earth， no matter how much money you make， you are still doomed.

Jiǎrú dìqiú shang lián yì dī gānjìng de shuǐ，yì kǒu gānjìng de kōngqì dōu méiyǒu， nǐ zhèng zài duō de qián yěshì sǐ lù yì tiáo.

假如地球上連一滴干凈的水，一口干凈的空氣都沒有，你掙再多的錢也是死路一條。

L： You…Do you understand what you are talking about？

Nǐ……dǒng nǐ zài shuō shénme ma？

你……懂你在說什么嗎？

S： It’s you who doesn’t understand. That’s why I came to you.

Shì nǐ bù dǒng. Wǒ cái huì chūxiàn zài nǐ miànqián.

shanshan （Jelly Lin） takes Liu Xuan （Deng Chao） to a restaurant she favors

Tourists venture to the absurd "Museum of World Exotic Animals"

shanshan and Brother Eight temporarily reside in a sunken ship

是你不懂。我才會出現在你面前。ship—Shanshan （Jelly Lin）， one of the last remaining beautiful mermaids who has learned how to waddle on her fins， is tasked with showing up to Liu’s afterparty and assassinating him， by the band’s leader，the half-man half-octopus Brother Eight （Show Luo）. However， during their date when she and Brother Eight planned on assassinating Liu， Shanshan and the misguided millionaire develop feelings for each other. Meanwhile， Ruolan （Kitty Zhang）， the icy daughter of Liu’s tycoon rival （the venerable Tsui Hark） has her own plans for amassing her fortune，whether it takes seducing Liu or brutalizing her way into the Green Gulf.

The final showdown almost plays itself out: Liu，having fallen in love with Shanshan， is pitted against Ruolan and her boatmen in a fitting show of both brutality and comedy that has become a staple of Chow’s directorial style. While sometimes Chow’s movies can be rather unpredictable， The Mermaid follows a rather identifiable path after its rambling opening sequence. The fun comes not from knowing full and well that Shanshan and Liu are heading towards inevitable fairy-tale love， but from the silly antics Chow employs left and right to get them there.

The courtship is actually rather compelling: there’s nothing in the way of the romance except their deranged selves—they’re like two hungry adolescents running off like puppy dogs and it’s easy to accept without any extra rationalization from the script （at one point， the would-be lovers are shown throwing up in front of each other）. Chow’s penchant for extending his films just over the line of comfort in any given direction is also most apparent in The Mermaid: the final massacre of the merpeople more than just evokes the violence of dolphin slaughter in the cove and there’s more than enough gore and blood to make one squirm.

While The Mermaid is a great movie， it’s apparent that this is also not Chow’s piece de resistance: That he is willing to branch out into new forms， push existing boundaries even further and avoid endlessly remaking his successful pieces speaks to Chow’s creativity. While The Mermaid is a strong contender， it is clear that there will be other even greater jewels in his crown， fitting and rather impressive for a mainstream commercial director. - TERENCE HSIEH （謝燕輝）