| The film is an enjoyable, character-driven series of episodes that vary in the quality of their writing and directing. Most of the humor is gentle and softly lobbed at its target; as a result, the pace feels slack and loose-limbed, as though the plot itself were under water. The story occasionally wanders away from Little Fish to check in on the other characters, but we learn little about them. For example, we know Fat Dice is a triad and that his son ("Boss" Chung) wants his Daddy to quit the gangsters, but we don't know why Fat Dice suddently agrees to do so or what happened to the mother of "Boss"; Audrey changes her romantic mind about Little Fish so often it's a wonder the poor boy doesn't have whiplash, yet we never learn anything about her, such as why she's so emotionally mercurial; and so forth. On the other hand, while the film never pretends to be a deep examination of dramatic characters, it does portray certain scenarios in a very touching and believable way — such as the interplay between the carefree Little Fish and his loving mother. The photography by Rocky Tsang emphasizes primary colors and the frequent underwater shots introduce a pleasant visual variety. Another bonus is the electric piano stylings featured in the musical score composed by Tommy Wai. Stanley Cheung provided the lively art direction (the yellow locker room is a sharp contrast to the cool blues of the water-based action) and Chan Ki-Hop served as editor.
Sammy Leung portrays Little Fish initially as a goofy kid, and this creates the expectation that the film will be a straight-out farcical comedy. As the story develops, we see that director/co-writer Matt Chow has something different in mind. Little Fish has some depth to his character, and Leung brings this side out effectively. Although early scenes make it appear that the romance with Audrey will play a bigger role, Pace Wu (previously seen as Daniel Chan's girlfriend in A War Named Desire) as Audrey ends up having little to do during much of the running time except mysteriously change her mind about Little Fish. She is charming and slender; while there's nothing wrong with her figure, her modest swim suits emphasize that the heart of the story is fixed on the characters and not on their bodies. Anthony Wong appears to be racing through his lines halfheartedly during several scenes; his performance is disappointingly average. Wyman Wong adds personality as the triad Fat Dice, but Joe Li is wasted in a small part as a drunk. Kitty Yuen plays, I believe, Little Fish's mother, in a very affecting turn. Director Wilson Yip has an amusing cameo playing himself. |
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