As a local child of Beijing and a close witness of the city’s everyday transformation, first-timer director CHAI Xiaoyu has made an amusing and topical film about his generation. FISH PARK tells a tale of an ordinary young man who tries to map out his position in life and society. Working for his uncle in a demolition team, the protagonist Xiaoyu has his quotidian routine, always messes around the construction sites. When his old- time friend Haifeng comes back to town with his girlfriend and the three share an apartment, the simplicity of Xiaoyu’s life is replaced by uncertainty and chaos.

​

FISH PARK embodies Mumblecore spirit. With fairly low budget, the film convincingly exhibits the everyday trails of young people struggling with their desire and solitude in the metropolis, details their troubles with personal relationship and reveals the upsetting realities of adulthood. The camera is always intimate and observational, exposing the amateur actors’ spontaneous reactions and evoking the audience’s awareness of their surrounding spaces.