The theme of "Cold Fish" comes from a brutal pet shop couple serial murder and dismemberment case that shocked Japan in 1993. However, in the adaptation process, this murder did not become the main line of the story, but only a background. The real protagonist of the story is Shinsuke Shimoto as a bystander. The film is reconstructed based on his psychological transformation and family relationship changes. The biggest advantage of the bystander status is that it gives the film a strong sense of substitution, and it radiates every audience watching the film.
The characters in the film all have two extreme and opposite personalities. One side is a cowardly abuser, who turns around but becomes a cruel abuser. Everyone showed their humble side, but at the same time exposed the other side of indifference. This corresponds exactly to people in real life, who hate evil on the one hand, but on the other hand become the source of evil or an accomplice who tolerates and encourages evil. The film only takes this evil more extreme treatment, which is almost religious madness, and unprovoked cruelty. Just like the abstract model stories of Kim Kidd, Yuan Ziwen's movies also function as a magnifying glass, magnifying the sins hidden between people infinitely.
