Storyline
A playboy business tycoon, Liu Xuan, purchases the Green Gulf, a wildlife reserve, for a sea reclamation project, and uses sonar technology to get rid of the sea life in the area. Unknown to him, the Green Gulf is the home of merpeople, and the sonar has caused many of them to succumb to illness or die. Xuan's business ventures in the area are threatened when he crosses paths with the mermaid, Shan, who is sent to avenge her people.
Directors
Writers
Cast
Tenky Tin Kai-Man, Lam Tze-chung, Chiu Chi-Ling, Pierre Bourdaud, Tsui Hark, Wen Zhang, Show Luo, Lee Sheung-Ching, Lu Zheng-Yu, Yeung Lun, Deng Chao, Kris Wu, Kitty Zhang Yuqi, Jelly Lin, Zhang Mei-E, Linah Matsuoka, Barbie Liu, Xu Zhen-Zhen, Bai Ke, Kong Lian-Shun, Wilson Chin, Zheng Ji-Feng, Fan Shu-Zhen, Ivan Kotik, Sun Jia Ling, Li Ye-Qing
Trailer
Reviews
90
Crass and macabre, yet big-hearted, it makes a wonderfully adult bedtime story.
88
The Mermaid will make you laugh. It doesn't matter if you don't like subtitles. It doesn't matter if you've never heard of the director. It doesn't matter if you've never seen a Chinese movie in your life. It will make you laugh. Guaranteed.
80
While second-guessing the marketing strategies of movie conglomerates is happily not the concern of this reviewer, it does seem a shame that this exhilarating, bizarre, good-hearted, blatantly obvious sci-fi-fantasy-slapstick eco-fable isn’t getting wider fanfare.
80
Mermaid is a very, very funny movie, but its caustic swipes at China’s nouveau riche, combined with its despairing look at the devastation of the country’s environment, suggest a filmmaker trying to find ways to reconcile his buoyant sense of fun with deeper, darker themes.
75
The Film Stage
While the story doesn’t always hold together, it remains moving.
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