The Annihilation of Fish: Movie Review

Charles Burnett’s The Annihilation of Fish is a 90s curio that tries to be cute and emotional but just ends up being weird.

Unfortunately, the film itself is nothing to write home about. More weird than romantic, The Annihilation of Fish is full of questionable decisions and interesting acting choices and tries to be both eccentric and dramatic; emotional and ridiculous. The thing is, the movie never manages to achieve an effective balance between its tones, which results in an experience that’s more confounding than satisfying. There are some things to like in The Annihilation of Fish, to be sure, but the majority of the film is rather boring, which is something you never want to say about a story that’s supposed to be at least a bit romantic.

As The Annihilation of Fish starts, we see Mr Fish (James Earl Jones) leaving the mental health facility he’s lived in for the past ten years, and moving to a building managed by Mrs. Muldroone (Margot Kidder). At the same time, alcoholic Poinsettia (Lynn Redgrave) accepts the fact that her husband is dead, and moves to the same place as Fish. Initially, they don’t like each other – she sings opera (she’s a fan of “Madame Butterfly”) and makes too much noise, and he scares his neighbours by wrestling with his own demons; literally. But as you might imagine, they eventually realise they have much more in common than they first thought.

At least structurally, there’s nothing particularly original about The Annihilation of Fish. At its core, the movie is about two people who begin the story by hating each other and finish it as a couple. They are both eccentric and clearly have mental health issues, and thus find each other in an unlikely manner. Being a film from the nineties, The Annihilation of Fish doesn’t tackle issues of mental health in a very respectful, credible of touching manner, but at least that shouldn’t be surprising. The movie is a product of its time, and thus, it shouldn’t be evaluated with modern sensibilities.

Nevertheless, it is rather disturbing to watch a film that doesn’t take its characters’ mental health issues seriously. In the beginning, Poinsettia is shown as having an “imaginary husband”, and all the secondary characters react to this as they might in a sitcom. And although Fish clearly suffers from PTSD or some other kind of trauma, the fact that he hallucinates a “demon” he has to fight with is tackled with all the subtlety of a nuclear bomb. Poinsettia even turns into the “referee” for his “fights”, which allows them to develop a bond and eventually fall in love.

On a more positive note, it is refreshing to see a romantic story centred on older characters, especially considering it was made more than twenty-five years ago. And it’s also interesting that the film doesn’t shy away from sex, showing Poinsettia (sort of) masturbating at one point, and admitting that sex can certainly be an important component in a relationship between elderly people. These are topics that aren’t even touched by contemporary movies all that often, so finding them in such an unlikely production from the nineties is, at the very least, pleasantly surprising.

Additionally, I don’t have any complaints about the central performances. Yes, Jones’ Jamaican accent is a little cartoonish, but he still plays Fish very naturalistically, allowing the viewer to empathise with him, especially when he has his “demon attacks”. For her part, Redgrave makes some interesting acting choices while portraying Poinsettia, mixing a couple of stereotypes about “crazy people” with more realistic expressions and reactions. Additionally, Margot Kidder (of Richard Donner’s Superman) is a standout as the couple’s landlady, who takes part in a subplot of her own.

It’s no wonder The Annihilation of Fish wasn’t commercially released. It’s too weird, too scattershot and too uneven to garner anything more than a cult following. I’m not supporting the cancellation of already completed films, of course; I’m just saying that I understand the rationale behind the decision. Nevertheless, I’m glad the movie has been released now, especially in such a good-looking restoration, which highlights the benefits of shooting a movie in 35mm film (the movie looks better than many contemporary productions shot digitally). The Annihilation of Fish is not for everyone, but those curious to know why it was “lost” for so many years might get a kick out of it.

A new 4K restoration of The Annihilation of Fish will premiere in theaters in New York on February 14, 2025 at BAM before expanding to select theaters nationwide.