Little From the Fish Shop

One day the Sea King and his family find themselves forced to move from the plundered waters of their home and live among humans. In order to make a living, the former ruler runs an ordinary fish shop. His three daughters lend a hand, well, actually a fin, in order to remain sheltered from the cruel outside world. The rundown industrial town in which the die sea family lives harbours many dangers, but the greatest of all seems to be love: one day the youngest fish daughter “Little” casts an eye at the dubious brothel owner J. J., and a deep affection is kindled in her tiny fish heart. But who would ever fall for a girl with a fishtail covered in scales? A tincture can allegedly get rid of her fin dilemma and even conjure two elegant legs from her awkward bottom. And that’s exactly how it happened. As soon as Little is taken in at J. J.’s house of pleasure, she can be certain of his attention. Little wrongly believes in ultimate happiness… but doesn’t this tale seem a little familiar? “Little from the Fish Shop” sets up a tragic and similarly touching parable to the fairy tale of The Little Mermaid, telling of devotion and its risks. In the traditional stop-motion fashion, viewers are led through the strange side streets of a mostly ruined world, where dreams are lost and love is not worth a penny. With his cinematic artwork, the Prague artist Jan Balej follows in the footsteps of the Czech animation film pioneer and takes up from the grandmaster Jiří Trnka. Magnificent cinema newly interpreted. (ns)
Voices: Oldřich Kaiser, Anežka Kubátová, Petr Forman, Ivana Chýlková, Bára Hrzánová, Jan Novotný, Nina Divíšková, Veronika Žilková, Radek Holub, Vladimír Javorský