Fish Kill Flea

D: Brian Cassidy, Aaron Hillis, and Jennifer Loeber

In the hills of upstate New York sits an increasingly common sight: an empty mall awaiting its fate (future Home Depot or future Wal-Mart?). The directors of Fish Kill Flea gently sing the mall to sleep with a caring depiction of its final tenant: a flea market occupying only a small portion of the building. Without the aid of narration, the film manages a thin narrative of a makeshift family of vendors trying to stay together. Interviews are broken up by visual tone poems of the mall in its heyday and death throes. The movie can play like an excuse to show some great footage padded with interesting-enough characters, but a unique soundtrack and deft edits keep it compelling. In the end, Fish Kill Flea whispers its concern for our disposable culture as it captures a subculture losing its battle for survival.


11:15am, Alamo South Lamar

This article appears in March 16 • 2007.

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James graduated from Columbia University in 2000 and moved to Austin a year later. Ever since, he has followed the arts and video game scene in ATX, editing and writing stories for the Chronicle along the way. Over his more than 20 years with the paper he has climbed the "corporate" ladder from lowly intern to managing editor.