Should I stay or should I go? The dilemma in the minds of many young Chinese found one of its sharpest definitions in cinematographer Wu Di′s debut feature as a director. It haunts the hopelessly indecisive Ma Lixin, who breeds and sells goldfish while he makes up his mind what he wants from life. The emigration question has already cost him one relationship. New girlfriend Haiying gets him as far as Beijing Airport before he chickens out of flying to San Francisco. But they′ve already said their goodbyes to family and friends, and so they find themselves hiding in a rented farmhouse outside the city, pretending to be abroad. It′sa situation which puts their exuberant sex-life under considerable strain. This comic-edged fantasy (more playful than Alain Tanner′s Retour d′ Afrique, which has a similar premise) is very different from the early indie films that Wu shot for Wang Xiaoshuai and He Jianjun. But it interestingly looks forward to Wang Xiaoshuai′s Drifters (also shot by Wu), which is about a young man in Fujian deported from the US for overstaying his visa. Winningly, Wu never loses sight of the funny side of Lixin′s predicament. In China, he suggests, freedom really is another word for nothing left to lose. (Tony Rayns)