Fishbowl Review: An Emotional and Powerful Crisis of Family and Faith

Release date: October 27, 2020
Running time: 85 minutes
Starring: Emily Peachey, Belle Shickle, Caroline Coleman, Rick Kain
Directors: Alexa Kinigopoulos, Stephen Kinigopoulos

In a small town filled with secrets, three sisters are forced to cling to each other as they cope with loss and a father who's growing increasingly obsessed with the rapture he thinks is coming.  The sisters (Peachey, Shickle, and Coleman) are forced to endure hardships at home and at school, with the only people they can rely on being themselves.  And as their father (Kain)'s behavior becomes increasingly dogmatic and erratic, the sisters are put in a difficult situation while facing small town judgments.  They are good, but slightly rebellious girls who are forced to deal with the sins of their father and the judgmental looks of those around them.  They are constantly put in a difficult situation of following his erratic directions and wanting to live their own, normal lives.  

Fishbowl instantly grabs your attention with its wonderful style.  The style resonates throughout this film, with a yellow film color that makes some sequences feel dreamlike and really gets that small town, old time feel; a rebellious soundtrack that both sets the time period and energizes the feeling of angst; and a period perfect re-creation of a small town on the verge of the year 2000.  And the style is communicated in other ways too, such as the clothing choice.  The girls pretty universally wear their school uniforms or plain, white clothing, and the father is mostly clad in the same white outfit throughout.  It is a subtle touch, but one that shows the zealousness of their father and the financial predicament of the family.  

The rebellious nature is communicated perfectly through the cast.  All three sisters are portrayed amazingly by the three leads, with each bringing different levels of familial unrest.  Belle (Shickle), the oldest, is the most headstrong and opinionated.  The middle daughter Rachel (Peachey), is still towing the line between wanting to have fun but also still believing in her father and his teachings.  The youngest Jessa (Coleman) is a kid that is forced to grow up a little too fast tot deal with their predicament.   And the predicament is their father, who is masterfully played by Rick Kain.  He plays the patriarch perfectly, with a steel in his gaze and a quiet rule over the household as his daughters try to chip away at that.  And as the story develops, he goes from a seemingly one dimensional character to one that has various layers that have been locked away due to his past and his current life situation.  

The push and pull with the girl's desire to listen to their father and also live their own lives is fantastic and really helps you to empathize with their predicament.  They make seemingly normal choices for teenage girls, and are deathly afraid of what will happen to them.  And the film is full of really good examples of an understanding gap, not just with the father.  The rebelliousness of the kids shines through in their interactions with school administrators and other adults, who simply play lip service to the predicament that is brewing around them.  The small town distrust is recreated perfectly, with outwardly nice individuals giving terrible, distrusting looks or side comments.  The small town angst and mistrust are palatable in Fishbowl, with these seemingly normal girls feeling like outcasts.  You don't quite know why at the start, but it becomes increasingly clear as the story progresses. 

And ultimately the story of Fishbowl is a wonderful, painful, and dramatic journey.  A lot is left unsaid and much of it reveals itself as the movie progresses, but plenty is revealed by the end.  And the story builds to some very powerful scenes and epiphanies on all sides.  And the ending itself feels perfectly in line with the journey we have taken, a natural progression of what we had already seen.  And along the way you experience Fishbowls wonderful style and dry, dark humor that pervades this movie.  There are so many great little touches that keep this film engaging, entertaining, emotional, and ultimately fulfilling.    

Fishbowl's fantastic style, understated humor, wonderful performances, and subtle touches highlight a crisis of family and faith in a small town that cannot accept or cope with either. 

Watch it.

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Fishbowl is available digitally and on demand on October 27. 

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Check Out Our Interviews With The Directors and Stars Below!