Crimson Requiem

A young boy kills his ill grandfather’s fish and tries to make amends by buying a new one, only to discover that all the newly purchased fish die. Fish cannot be brought back from the dead, and neither can his grandfather—the boy must ultimately learn to face the life lesson of loss.

Director Statement

Crimson Requiem is an allegory about life’s fractures and self-redemption. The boy Gao Shang’s act of scooping the goldfish from the tank and flushing it down the toilet represents what I see as both a naive attempt to “manipulate life” and the most primitive encounter with death—he believes that filling the vacancy in the fish tank could keep his grandfather with him, unaware that the goldfish’s demise has already become a rehearsal for farewell. Lies and guilt envelop him like a whirlpool, and his futile struggles are what I consider the most honest fear a child faces when confronting death. Only when his grandfather appeared as a child to walk with him through the night do the lies shatter under the streetlights, and truth emerges with tears—the passing of life cannot be reversed.