Fishtank
2024 · 17m · USA
Directed by Wendi Tang
Genres: drama, romance, surrealism
Tones: melancholic, surreal, tender
One year sober, Jules can't stop vomiting goldfish — real ones, in rare breeds. When a fish enthusiast appears at her AA meeting and falls for her aquarium of regurgitations, their blossoming relationship begins to undo the very thing that drew him to her.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
Finally—a film that makes recovery look genuinely weird and unsettling instead of inspirational, where the magical realism isn't window dressing but the actual grammar of what sobriety feels like. Tang's refusal to explain or sentimentalize the vomiting goldfish is exactly the kind of subversive move that makes everyone else in the room uncomfortable, which is precisely why it works.
Fishtank locates itself in a lineage of body-horror surrealism that recalls Cronenberg and mid-period Kaufman, but its most assured formal gesture is restraint—the editing gives the relationship room to breathe even as the premise tempts spectacle, creating genuine pathos from the tension between the literal and the intimate.
The entire film hinges on the casting choice to play Jules as someone experiencing genuine shame rather than whimsy, and that single tonal decision—refusing to let the premise become cute or clever—is what transforms a high-concept gimmick into something that actually breaks your heart.
Reviews
A beautifully bizarre exploration of recovery, blending surreal elements with an emotional journey.
A rare gem and one of the most powerful short-form works I've seen in some time.
Festivals
- CinemaSHORT Asian Short Film Competition 2025, Best Narrative Short Film
- HollyShorts Film Festival 2024
- Bentonville Film Festival 2025
- Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival 2024
- SXSW Sydney 2024, Best Short Film
- deadCenter Film Festival 2024
- Tribeca Chanel Through Her Lens 2022, Grand Prize