โFor you who passed through the darknessโ runs a dedicatory title card at the conclusion of Tian Xiaopengโs stunning animated drama, Deep Sea (ๆทฑๆตท, Shฤn Hวi). Aimed squarely at younger audiences, the film is an exploration of depression and despair as the young heroine is plunged into a dark sea feeling that her life has no value but there encounters a fantastical world of colour and light while chasing the ghost of the mother who abandoned her.
As if to signify her loneliness, the film opens in a blizzard in which Shenxiu (Wang Tingwen) desperately searches for her mother only for her shadow to turn into a strange, many eyed monster. Back in the โrealโ world, sheโs off on a family holiday with her father, his new wife, and their baby son, the family of three sitting in front while she remains behind on her own wearing the red hoodie that once belonged to her mother. About to get on a boat for a six-day cruise, she drafts a message to her mother about how excited she is to see the ocean but then scrolls back up and remembers all the times her mother didnโt reply and the times she did to tell her sheโs busy and wishes Shenxiu wouldnโt contact her if it isnโt urgent. She deletes the message and rejoins her family but theyโre so busy fussing over the baby that they donโt have time for her either and in fact seem to have forgotten that today is her birthday.
Venturing out on the deck in a storm, Shenxiu is sucked into a tornado in which she sees the outline of her mother and meets a strange sea creature, Hijinx, from a story her mother had told her believing that it has come to guide her to where her mother is living. Before too long she arrives at a bizarre floating restaurant where aquatic creatures go to eat run by โavant-gardeโ chef Nanhe (Su Xin). In some ways, Nanhe comes to represent her mother in that he first rejects her, insisting that sheโs bad luck and kicking her out but later takes her back and tries to make her happy in an effort to stave off the โRed Phantomโ that threatens to consume her, taking on the form of her motherโs red hoodie in which she attempts to bury herself as a symbol of her loneliness and despair.ย
Beautifully animated, the world of the restaurant is a silkpunk paradise of chaotic action, part pirate ship and part fantastical submarine powered by walruses on stationery bicycles. Tian Xiaopeng makes fantastic use of the projector screen to illuminate Shenxiuโs fantasies, neatly including a cartoon within the cartoon in a more traditional 2D style while otherwise reflecting Nanheโs broken dreams for a homeland he says he can never return to. Shenxiu too shifts between alternate โrealitiesโ, experiencing brief flashbacks to happy memories of her mother and others of less happy times as sheโs sent for counselling by a school concerned she seems withdrawn only to be told the solution is to smile more so sheโll fit in better encouraging her to bury herself and her feelings under an affected facade of cheerfulness for the comfort of others. ย
Nanheโs final acceptance of her comes when he tells he that he hopes all her future smiles will be from the heart unlike the clown face he sometimes wears with its eerie, false grin intended to ward off other people’s discomfort but largely masking pain in himself. He also tells her that though the โrealโ world may seem grey and miserable in comparison to the dazzling colour of her dreams, there will bright moments waiting for her that no matter how small are worth living for. It might seem a heavy message to deliver to small children, but also one that some may sadly need to hear. Tian opts for a more realistic conclusion than many might expect in which Shenxiu but nevertheless allows her to punch through her loneliness and despair into a happier existence bonding with her stepmother and seemingly better integrated into her family no longer feeling excluded or alone. Absolutely breathtaking in its execution, Tianโs incredibly rich fantasy world is a riot of whimsy but also tempered by a deep empathy and compassion for anyone whoโs battled their way through a dark sea.ย
Deepย Sea screenedย as part of this yearโsย Fantasia International Film Festival.
Original trailer (English subtitles)
