Shenxiu, a quiet girl sidelined in her father's new family and haunted by her absent mother, slips overboard during a storm on a holiday cruise. She wakes in a phantasmagoric ocean and stows away aboard the Deep Sea Restaurant, a ramshackle vessel serving demanding spirit guests, where the fast-talking chef Nanhe schemes for good reviews, a red specter stalks her, and the dreamlike voyage bends toward a hard truth.
Details & facts
- Chinese
- 深海
- Pinyin
- Shenhai
- Released
- January 22, 2023
- Format
- 3DCG animation
- Runtime
- 112 min
- Box office
- $136 million worldwide
- Studio
- October Media
- Director
- Tian Xiaopeng (田晓鹏)
- Source
- Original work
Tian Xiaopeng spent about seven years making Deep Sea at October Media as his follow-up to Monkey King: Hero Is Back. His team developed a particle-based ink technique that builds swirling ink-wash color fields from billions of animated specks, an attempt to fuse 3D animation with the look of traditional Chinese painting. Released for Chinese New Year on January 22, 2023, it grossed about 920 million yuan, roughly $136 million, while its treatment of depression and family estrangement split holiday audiences even as the visuals drew wide praise. The film screened in the Berlinale's Generation Kplus program that February, and Viva Pictures gave it a North American theatrical release on November 24, 2023.
