[REL] Umibe No Kingyo (2021)

[kev]

Umibe No Kingyo AKA The Goldfish: Dreaming of the Sea (2021)

Synopsis:

Hana, a high school girl, has been grown up in a foster home because of a crime her mother is said to have committed. As the oldest sister in the home, Hana takes care of a newly sheltered girl abused by her mother. A story of fragile girls living in a cruel world.

Pix:
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Child of interest: Hanada Runa
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YTS Torrent Link:
https://yts.bz/movies/umibe-no-kingyo-2021

Beautifully somber story of Hana, a young lady (18yo) that's living in a foster home while her mother either convalesces in a mental hospital or is in jail, (that's never really clear), when another child arrives at the home. A 7-year old girl named Harumi (Hanada Runa) has been separated from her mother due to abuse. She's very withdrawn and reacts angrily to any attempts to help her. Being the eldest child, Hana reluctantly takes her under her wing, and the movie proceeds to relate their story.

It's a beautiful coming-of-age, bonding story between Hana and Harumi. It's marred by one MAJOR fopa by the director (who also wrote the film) that has absolutely NOTHING to do with the storyline or actors but is hinted at in the English title of the film...

SERIOUS 'SPOILER' ALERT THAT I FEEL I HAVE TO REVEAL, LEST THIS MOVIE IS SEEN BY EASILY OFFENDED ANIMAL LOVERS:

Spoiler: It was something that I noticed from the beginning of the movie and then at the end during an emotionally cathartic 'release' scene: Goldfish are treated pretty badly in this movie. Not just me, but in 4 out of the 5 audience reviews, people focused on that point. The beauty of the film is sort of sullied by the simple fact that the director was so ignorant that they didn't realize GOLDFISH ARE FRESH WATER FISH! Saltwater will absolutely kill them. NOW; if the director had taken the notion of the title (Goldfish: Dreaming of the Sea} and tried to apply it to Harumi's situation (her wanting to go back to her mother, despite that fact that it was dangerous to do so) then the whole 'goldfish abuse' element might have had some relevance. But that was never alluded to, and instead the goldfish becomes a major, unintended stumbling block. Sorta like that cute little Milo and Otis family film that was ruined (at least for me) when it was revealed that numerous animals (cats, mostly) lost their lives in the course of filming..

Anyway, other than the spoiler-ed problem, this is a quietly thoughtful and endearing film (at least from a HUMAN standpoint ) well worth a watch.. All the kids (Hana lives with a BIG foster family) are SOOO cute!!

kev.

[ghost]

Thanks for finding this movie, kev. Made me curious to watch it.

BTW: The torrent has Englsih subtitles.

[ghost]

I still had 272¥ gift card balance on my amazon.co.jp account, so I could rent it from Prime Video Japan.
(I found it with its original title 海辺の金魚.)

Here's the movie in better quality:

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