If you haven’t heard about The Mermaid that’s not surprising. Sony Pictures released the film recently in North America to a paltry 25 screens, but it still managed to rake in $1 million dollars. The reason The Mermaid is such a hot topic, would be because it is lighting up the Chinese Box Office. It has broken records there taking it north of $400 million dollars since opening. That being said, is The Mermaid only for Chinese audiences or does it have something to offer adventurous movie goers?
The Mermaid (Mei ren yu) is definitely a product of director Stephen Chow, his previous works including Kung Fu Hustle and Shaolin Soccer. The movie tells the story of a mermaid Shanshan (Yun Lin) who is sent on an assassination mission against Liu Xuan (Deng Chao) who is doing irreversible oceanic destruction in order to make his new waterfront property and collect his next billion. During this attempt at Liu Xuan’s life, Shanshan ends up falling for him and beginning a romance that is strange to say the least.
It will be difficult for many audiences to understand just what is so exciting about The Mermaid. Blockbusters in America have a certain formula about them. The Mermaid is determined to define its own genre of film. It can almost be described as an action/romance/comedy/environmental smorgasbord.
When it comes to action, The Mermaid resorts to slapstick as our hero fails to achieve her mission in often hilarious ways. Although there are other scenes in the feature that are as violent as anything you would see in Jurassic World. The comedy comes from how outlandish some of the characters are including Liu Xuan and shanshan’s uncle Octopus (Show Luo) who pretends to be a chef cooking his own tentacles. Behind all this is a very serious topic of protecting our oceans, not polluting or destroying our aquatic friends. It is structurally all over the place, but that’s perhaps what makes it so exciting.
The Mermaid is something of a chameleon, as it is able to change the genre and emotions effortlessly over its brisk 100 minute run-time. The ending becomes deadly serious, but Chow is able to bring things around for a happy and crazy ending that would only make sense in this world he has created. Audiences that have the opportunity to check it out are encouraged not only because more foreign film needs to be released in America, but because The Mermaid is such a bizarre creature that you certainly won’t forget it.
B
[Ed. Sorry for the quality of the screenshots, there are so few images of this film available these are captured from the trailer.]
