The Shanghai International Film Festival shimmered with surprise on June 14th as director Rao Xiaozhi (饶晓志) unveiled not one, but two highly anticipated sequels to his groundbreaking black comedy franchise, A Cool Fish (无名之辈). Nobody: Turning Tide (否极泰来) will ignite summer screens on July 5th, while Nobody: What Truly Matters (意义非凡) promises a darkly humorous New Year’s Eve celebration on December 31st. This bold dual release strategy marks an ambitious expansion for the series, transforming standalone tales of provincial chaos into a globally interconnected saga.
Seven years after the original film became a sleeper hit, its unique blend of razor-sharp wit and profound empathy for society’s underdogs continues to resonate. The first A Cool Fish wasn’t just a box office success; it etched characters like Hu Guangzhi (Zhang Yu) and Ma Jianyin (Ren Suxi) into China’s cinematic consciousness, proving that stories of small-town desperation could capture nationwide hearts. The announcement of dual sequels signals Rao’s confidence in evolving these beloved misfits from local curiosities into accidental players on an international stage.
Returning with the original creative nucleus, the sequels promise amplified stakes and broader horizons. Ren Suxi (任素汐) reprises her role, hinting that Turning Tide descends into "sheer madness, drama, and utter chaos." The ensemble cast reunites, joined by powerhouse additions like Chen Jianbin (陈建斌) and Andy Lau (刘德华), suggesting a seamless blend of familiar absurdity and fresh, escalating peril. The festival reveal wasn’t just a date announcement; it was a declaration that these "nobodies" are ready for a much bigger, messier world.
Rao’s Vision: Finding Light in Life’s Labyrinth
Director Rao Xiaozhi, the architect of this intricate comedic universe, revealed the profound philosophy embedded within the seemingly whimsical titles. " Turning Tide speaks to the universal truth that when adversity reaches its peak, transformation follows," Rao explained during the Shanghai launch. "It’s about resilience, the stubborn hope that persists even in the darkest alleys of fate." This theme resonates deeply in the first sequel’s premise, where a botched international order from a Yiwu lamp factory plunges its hapless workers into a desperate scramble across Thailand’s rainforests.
Conversely, What Truly Matters pivots towards introspection amidst the frenzy. "It’s a question we chase constantly," Rao reflected. "What truly gives weight to our existence? Is it family? Connection? The legacy we leave?" This existential thread weaves through the chaotic tapestry of What Truly Matters, where the Yiwu factory’s troubles escalate into a farcical yet deadly confrontation with the Italian Mafia in Naples. The juxtaposition of slapstick survival against a backdrop of globalized consequence becomes Rao’s canvas for exploring identity and belonging.
Rao masterfully uses the series’ signature black comedy - a genre balancing razor-edge humor with poignant tragedy - not merely for laughs, but as a scalpel dissecting societal pressures. The "cool fish" , representing society’s overlooked and underestimated, remain his focal point. Their bumbling journeys, whether through Thai jungles or Italian backstreets, serve as absurdist metaphors for the universal struggle to carve meaning from chaos. Their triumphs, however small, are hard-won testaments to human tenacity.
From Yiwu Workshops to Naples Underworld
The scope of the sequels explodes beyond the original’s provincial confines. Turning Tide kicks off with calamity in a bustling Yiwu lamp factory. Chen Jianbin embodies Chen Aman (陈阿瞒), the overwhelmed factory boss whose catastrophic error - misrouting a massive international order - triggers a domino effect of misfortune. His frantic journey to Bangkok to salvage the deal, dragging along his equally out-of-depth employees, promises a kinetic blend of cross-cultural misunderstandings and escalating peril. Wang Junkai debuts as a factory supervisor sporting an unexpected look, while Yang Chaoyue (杨超越) transforms into a resilient assembly line worker.
What Truly Matters catapults the consequences of this Yiwu mishap onto a dramatically different stage: the sun-drenched, dangerous streets of Naples. Here, the lamp factory’s woes entangle with the ruthless machinations of the local Camorra. Andy Lau enters the fray as Zhu Aliang (朱阿亮), a character shrouded in ambiguity - glimpsed in the trailer sporting darkly humorous tattoos one moment, then immersed in the solemn gravitas of a mafia funeral the next. His connection to the struggling Chinese immigrants caught between the factory’s failure and the mob’s demands adds layers of intrigue and pathos.
The iconic teaser poster powerfully encapsulates this global leap: Yiwu factory workers and suited Italian mobsters stand shoulder-to-shoulder, both groups flashing incongruous thumbs-up gestures. This image, both jarring and darkly comic, symbolizes the franchise’s audacious new direction. It’s no longer just about survival in a single Chinese city; it’s about the chaotic, interconnected web of modern globalization where a mistake in a small workshop can ripple out to trigger gang wars in Europe. The little lights from Yiwu, literal and metaphorical, are now illuminating a much larger, more dangerous stage.
