The Monk and the Fish (1994)

A monk is sitting by the water's edge looking at his reflection when out pops a fish. He immediately races to his cell where he procures a net and a bucket. Dinner? Well the fish has other ideas and despite the nimbleness of this rather portly cleric who's quite adept at the martial arts, the fish continues to come and go as it please. Overnight, the man studies and even recruits his colleagues but they don't believe the fish is there at all. Perhaps he can catch it by candlelight at night, or perhaps the fish will be asleep? A bow an arrow? It's now that the fish leads him on a merrier, less tangible, dance that takes him from the seclusion of his monastery and into pastures new... The soundtrack has a baroque style to it and the animation, though basic, quite square and two-dimensional, manages to convey the curiosity, frustration and then something just a little more surreally tranquil as it concludes in sort of peaceful equilibrium.