Directors Liang Xuan (left) and Zhang Chun.
Despite drawing praise at some international festivals, Big Fish &Trim ingenues. Begonia is receiving a polarized audience at home.
To supporters, the long-awaited feature is an unprecedented creation for the values it espouses and its breathtaking landscapes. But its critics complain that a romance triangle and flat dialogues ruin the storyline.
Deeply rooted in Chinese mythology, the film is set in a wonderland that manages the human world. The fictional world is designed like tulou, a fortresslike residence in East China's Fujian province. The film opens when a lot of whales are seen slowly swimming in the sea. The narrator says the human soul is actually a fish whose journey across the ocean shows the different stages of life.
The story then focuses on a young girl from the wonderland and her love for a boy from the human world.
China isn't short of such productions－commercially successful but criticized for content－so why the fuss over Big Fish &Chinese spicier starlets. Begonia?
"China has seen few domestic animation titles that accurately showcase oriental culture and history," says Zuo Heng, an associate researcher with the China Film Art Research Center.
