While Spike Lee has this tendency to grab the notoriety, the fame, and the headlines, there are other truly amazing Black filmmakers in America, gentle readers. One of my favorite such craftsmen is Charles Burnett. Burnett is an intuitive, empathic storyteller who seeks in each of his films to find the secret essence that powers his deeply humane characters. In Killer of Sheep (1978), we met a black family man who kept his family fed, working at a slaughterhouse that specialized in processing lambs. In To Sleep with Anger (1990), his protagonist is a drifter visiting an old family friend in Los Angeles and all the trouble that follows in this chaos engine’s wake.
With The Annihilation of Fish, we come to a film that I would argue is Burnett’s masterpiece. Fish (the legendary James Earl Jones) is a lifelong inhabitant of a mental institution. The vigorous nature of his mania has driven his social worker (David Kagen) to the brink of a breakdown. Fish, you see, is regularly and surprisingly ‘attacked’ by an unseen assailant determined to kill him through constant wrestling. This has flustered the entire staff of the institution, so they ultimately choose to de-institutionalize Fish and thus end the problem he presents. Fish goes on to rent a room with Mrs. Muldroone (Margot Kidder). The Jamaican Fish and the Southern-born Mrs. Muldroone have a feisty friendship. That, however, pales in comparison to Fish’s interactions with Poinsettia (the indomitable Lynne Redgrave).
James Earl Jones (as Obediah Fish) in Charles Burnett’s THE ANNIHILATION OF FISH. Never officially released, Milestone Films will officially launch the premiere in 2024 celebrating the film’s 25th anniversary and the 80th birthday of Charles Burnett. This 1999 feature is a uniquely funny and touching story of an eccentric pair of aging and delusional visionaries played by James Earl Jones and Lynn Redgrave, along with Margot Kidder. Restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive and The Film Foundation in collaboration with Milestone Films. Funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation.
Restored from the 35mm original picture negative and 35mm optical track negative. Laboratory services by Roundabout Entertainment, Inc., FotoKem, Audio Mechanics, Simon Daniel Sound. Special thanks to Charles Burnett, John Demps, Dennis Doros, Amy Heller. UCLA Restorationist: Jillian Borders.
“…Fish is regularly and surprisingly ‘attacked’ by an unseen assailant…”
With Pointsettia, Fish has found his other half. A woman who is fiery, passionate, and madly in love with a long-dead composer who she claims is very much with her. Pointsettia agrees to a relationship with the perennially knocked down and beaten up Fish, which is just perfect. We will spend the film learning the multitudinous ins and outs of their time together. I applaud Burnett for choosing to tell a story of romance for older people with wildly improbably eccentricities, social tics, and mental issues. The Annihilation of Fish is a celebration of that which makes us wholly unique as a species. This film pulsates and throbs with a lust for life I have rarely experienced in other filmmaker’s stories.
Truly, Burnett as a storyteller has cracked the code on what makes us humans tick. There are no better film making hands to find yourself proverbially cradled by. As Fish navigates the twists and turns of his conflict with his invisible pugilist and his deep feelings for Pointsettia we the viewers are proffered quite the cinematic delight.
The acting, directing, cinematography, production design, editing of The Annihilation of Fish are all top notch. Rare is the film that I find no defaults at all with it. This is Burnett’s one which fires on all cylinders to perfection. It simply must be witnessed to believe.
The remaster of The Annihilation of Fish is both handsome and exquisite in its refurbishments. I will heap great praise on the team who unearthed this 1999 gemstone and burnished it to a 4K luster. This is a remarkable accomplishment and deserves to be watched by anyone who loves the films of Charles Burnett. Also, anyone who likes a great romance. If movies involving the sweetly demented are your thing, The Annihilation of Fish is definitely for you. Seek this film out. It’s a most humane and beautiful story.
"…a most humane and beautiful story"
