Goldfish

This comic-edged first feature by Wu Di (cinematographer of The Days and Postman) has the same feel for street-level realities found in other Beijing indies, but a jauntier tone than most of them. Ma is the only guy his age in urban China who is scared to emigrate. One girlfriend has already left him over this issue; another gets him as far as the airport before he chickens out of flying to San Francisco. Trouble is, they've said their goodbyes to family and friends - and so they find themselves hiding in a rented farmhouse outside the city, pretending to be abroad. Retour d'Afrique had a similar premise, but this turns into a much sharper meditation on mental and other prisons when Ma starts breeding and selling goldfish, envying them their 'freedom'...