Tropical Fish

The second feature from the idiosyncratic maker of Blissfully Yours is a likewise leisurely affair that comprises not one but two disarmingly simple (but far from straightforward) stories. The first is a meandering gay idyll, in which a young soldier and a village boy divide their time between town and country; the second features the same two actors in a folk legend set in the jungle, which sees the soldier tracking down and being tracked by the shape-shifting spirit of a man-eating tiger. Precisely how these two skeletal narratives relate to one another is unclear - though some sort of connection is evidently being made between desire, fulfilment and death - but there's no denying the film's quiet assurance, its originality, or the haunting beauty of its later night scenes.