FILM REVIEW

Young Chang

The character of Poinsettia sits herself down on the table in one

scene of “The Annihilation of Fish” and shakes her head. This is a first,

she says -- getting dumped for a demon. She proceeds to drink.

Poinsettia, played by Lynn Redgrave, doesn’t find it at all strange

that Fish (James Earl Jones) wrestles with demons. She, too, once had a

friend the rest of the world couldn’t see -- famous Italian composer

Giacomo Puccini. The two wanted to get married, but couldn’t because

state laws demanded that both partners be present at the wedding, the

opera fanatic says. So she broke up with him.

Now, in a new town (Los Angeles), on weary, widowed feet, the

opera-fanatic is heartbroken that her new lover Fish would rather see

less of her than ward away his demons, who seem to be visiting less

frequently since he coupled up with Poinsettia.

Produced by Paul Heller, William Lawrence Fabrizio and John Remark,

and directed by Charles Burnett, this odd yet somehow touching love story

of two unlikely-to-bond souls will stay with you for awhile.

It’s a slow film -- with a sharp, surprising and imaginative script --

that sucks you into the strangest little world of three lonely,

delusional seniors and drops you back into reality, somehow, smiling.

* ‘The Annihilation of Fish’ will screen at 4 p.m. Sunday at Edwards

Island 7 Cinemas.