The Best Old Movies on a Big Screen This Week: NYC Repertory Cinema Picks, July 6-12
The Mermaid (2016)
Directed by Stephen Chow
Sony Corporation of America dumped Chow’s latest in a few theaters across North America during its theatrical run this February. In China though, The Mermaid was a box office smash. It’s one of the top grossing movies of all time in the country. It’s a pretty damn good film too, and now returns (in 3D!) to Metrograph following their retrospective on Chow the actor, the filmmaker, and comedy king of Hong Kong and now, mainland China.
A bigwig tycoon (Deng Chao) destroys marine life with crippling sonar technology. To prevent even more destruction, a band of mer-people (and an octopus) send a mermaid (Jelly Lin) to assassinate the capitalist. The problem is, mermaid and man fall in love. This could be the logline for this movie that plays like many movies smashed together. Yet what rings clear are the maximalist and minimalist comic set pieces shot in exquisite formal compositions. Chow down on Chow’s visual humor—rare for this day and age. Tanner Tafelski (July 8-14 at the Metrograph; showtimes daily)