Fishbowl

It's a really engaging drama about a family falling apart because of the mother's death. 3 girls who attend a Catholic school have to deal with their father's depressed mental state, worsened by his growing religious obsession with a televangelist cult which he joins as a last ditch attempt at fixing things. The feeling of everything falling apart is prevailing throughout the entire movie. I didn't quite get the ending, it was all built on implications, but it was clear enough to make assumptions. I felt engaged in what's happening to the characters and felt their emotions. It's a nice, if only pretty depressing, movie.

Greetings again from the darkness. In the not so distant past, folks who lived in small towns felt like there were no secrets - everyone in town knew each other and what they were up to. Thus, the proverbial "fishbowl" of the title. Of course, these days, people in towns and cities of all sizes voluntarily advertise their every waking moment on social media, making privacy and gossip relics of a bygone era. Brother-sister co-directors Alexa Kinigopoulos and Stephen Kinigopoulos (first feature for both), working with a script by writers Piero S Iberti, Maria Stratakis, and (co-director) Stephen Kinigopoulos serve up a taste of small town life in the good 'ol days.

"In Bishop, you either talk or you're talked about." So says our narrator Belle over the slow-motion opening montage. She's the oldest of three sisters who live with their father and attend a local Catholic school. All members of this family are broken in their own way, and it's made clear this is due to the beloved mother/wife no longer being around (though initially we aren't sure what happened). Belle (newcomer Belle Shickle) is the rebellious one, though not quite as self-assured as she likes to think. The middle girl, Rachel (Emily Peachey), is sensitive and stunned when her friend tells her they can't hang out anymore - even for her birthday. The youngest, Jessa (newcomer Caroline Coleman) hasn't spoken a word in the 4 months (actually 118 days) since mom has been gone. Their dad (longtime stuntman-actor Rick Kain) is a mess, bouncing from over-zealous religious fanatic to forsaking it altogether, and then back again.

We see the family faced with hostile reactions in the community, at school, and even at church, where the priest suggests it would be better for everyone if they stayed away. Dad is drawn in by Tele-Evangelist Ron Peltz (Bobby J Brown) who is hocking his $1000 "Save Me Now" program as protection from The Rapture, which he proclaims will arrive on September 29. Close to foreclosure on their house, the dad plops down the grand, and forces his daughters to go door-to-door trying to "save" the neighbors from the end of the world.

A countdown to the final days also includes the teenage sisters trying to find their way in this new world. We get flashbacks to when they were younger and family life with mom (Judith Hoag, TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES) was pleasant, despite dad's alcoholism at the time. The three sisters cling to each other, but grow more concerned for their father and themselves. A particularly telling sequence has them defying their father and attending a costume party dressed as a devil, a nun, and a princess. It doesn't end well, and sets up the finale.

The Kinigopoulos filmmakers give the movie a dreamy/surreal look and feel, and perhaps Jeff Nichols' far superior 2011 TAKE SHELTER is the closest comparison. The four lead actors are fine (especially Ms. Shickle), but the background actors are exaggerated and distracting - perhaps this is done on purpose to help us understand what the family is going through. Pretty significant observations are offered up on small towns, parenting, church-goers, faith as a crutch, and alcoholism. It's not an easy watch, and one that will probably not have mass appeal. It's the type of movie that fits easily into the line-up of many film festivals, as that's the environment where it is most likely to find appreciation. Available VOD October 27, 2020

A seemingly very religious man with three daughters, living in a small christian village struggles with life after his wife's death and the repossession of his house by the bank. The community hates him for his past, his church wants him gone. His youngest daughter struggles with mean remarks at school. His daughters are obviously less religious than he is, and cope with their mom's death in other ways. After vivid ominous dreams, he turns to scripture in desperation, seeking redemption and forgiveness in every way possible, eventually falling into the hands of a TV-preacher that foretells the end of the world but actually scams him out of his last money with a box of flyers, buttons and a VHS-tape full of empty words. His daughters have no other option then to follow in his last desperate attempt to reunite them with his wife, their mother.

As the movie progresses, it becomes clear why nobody likes him anymore. Little hints are given and the dreadful event that took the life of his wife, who seemed to be loved and liked by everyone. Even though the movie is fictional, the problems that the man has are the problems of many. Too many... and in this case, the worst possible happens and there is no turning back nor apologizing. In the end, you also realize that he will not nor ever can change.

Top notch drama, very well told, very well filmed and very recognizable theme.

The film felt a lot longer than its 90 minute runtime, and not in a good way. The acting was ok by most of the cast, there were a couple of pretty terrible performances though, but the problem for me was that in this drama none of the characters felt like real people, and I put that down not to the acting but to the writing and directing. I suggest you watch the trailer, and if you do watch it you'll see lots of shots that look like they could be straight out of a commercial for a clothing brand or something with people being filmed in slow motion while posing, this is what a lot of the film is like and it didn't work for me at all. There's almost a surreal dreamlike feel to the look of the film that detracts from the story it's trying to tell, and at the end of the day the story they're telling is a very simple one, but when none of the characters or the situations they're in feel real it makes it very hard to care about anything that's happening to them.

I would not recommend this film as one worth watching and I would not watch another film directed by this directing duo.

This is a beautifully filmed movie about a family tragedy unfolding in a small judgmental town (hence the title). Although tragic, the three sisters remained loyal and supportive of one another and surprisingly to a father with an irrational paranoid parenting style. As other reviewers mentioned, the dialog is sparse, but the creative evocative imagery moves along the dual story lines of a missing mother mystery and preparing for the end of the world.

We thoroughly enjoyed this movie recommend you take a watch.