Kingyo

Release date: 2009
Director: Edmund Yeo
Story by: Yasunari Kawabata (Canaries)
Screenplay by: Edmund Yeo
Cast: Luchino Fujisaki, Takao Kawaguchi, Amane Kudo

A woman is working the streets of Akihabara looking for a gig as a “Maid Tour” guide, as her phone rings and meets up with a man, whom she used to know.

Kingyo — “goldfish” in Japanese — is the short film by Malaysian director Edmund Yeo with a Japanese cast and crew. It’s presented as a split screen for both of the main characters that’s well handled to show the distance between these people, as well as showing what’s going on inside their minds.

The pace of the film is slow, and contemplative. The handheld camera and the warm hues of city lights give the gloomy story of two ex-lovers finally parting.

The main character is interesting because he’s not your typical cheating husband, and we never victimize any of the women in his life, even if we could at the beginning of the film. His development is gradual, as we see his wife in flashbacks taking care of a couple of goldfishes, and we accept his final deed as a way to close that chapter of his life.

We are also never angry with the “other woman,” as she herself decides to move on… twice. Kingyo never ends like a bittersweet tale, instead it ends as a special new beginning.

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

amy

YAM Magazine editor, photographer, blogger, translator and part-time web designer. Film junkie, music junkie… and lately series (a.k.a. TV) junkie.

5 Responses

  1. Castor says:

    Sounds like a sweet little movie that I will probably never see lol ;)

  2. Edmund Yeo says:

    Oh, unfortunately, I don’t think I will be selling the short (yet). The film is still traveling around in film festivals, but it’s at its last legs, so I’ll be able to post it online someday, I hope.

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