a review of 水形物语

Overall a pretty good movie. I enjoyed the overall plot (even if it was a fairly standard Hollywood plot structure). However, the ending left a lot to be desired in my opinion. Some of the characters were complex, but some of them were very shallow. The villain of the film is just a straight up evil guy with no moral ambiguity or noticeable humanity for that matter. Although I e joyed the thematic parallel between the treatment of the Fishman and the treatment of African Americans, the black characters were just totally stereotypical black characters. I enjoyed the magical realism dance scene. It was kind of out of nowhere, but I think it really punched home how she felt because it was the only time we really went that deep into something like that. It was also very beautifully done. I also liked the overall meshing of scifi/fantasy into the movie. So all-in-all, a pretty good film with some interesting and well done aspects, but also with some major flaws.