I’m pretty sure a fish looked me dead in the eye and stared deep into my soul before declaring his intention to eat one of the other, less alive fish. And hey, I’m for survival of the fittest as much as the next guy but just, like, know that I’m not okay. 

PADAK casually oscillates (flip-flops) between existential musings of tank-confined fish friends with 2012 video game cutscene energy. Where flat creature designs rub scales with eye-bleedingly offensive human ‘characters’, sure to send you reaching for the nearest water-noose. Almost as dour as its sobering implications about animals as living just to die for our greedy pleasures.

And genuinely banging tunes (again, by various members of this depressed fish gang™)…

Do you want to live?

Someone in South Korea asked themselves "You know what Finding Nemo needed more of? Musical numbers and cannibalism." Padak is another film that I would have had no idea so much as existed without having seen someone I follow randomly review it with a suspiciously high rating. Well, turns out what you would initially think is a cruddy rip-off of something stands on its own two legs (fins?) as a very dark but unique film. Please don't take that as a joke, I was at times shocked by not only how gory this movie is, but how the actual subject matter is upsetting and gets under your skin in unexpected ways. Not for kids in…

Summer of South Korean Cinema: Animated film

Do not be fooled by the poster – sea creatures get decimated in every imaginable way in this film. Most of the animation is gross and ugly, which suits the violent nature of the film. However, the filmmakers treat the audience to some stunning hand-drawn sequences accompanied by musical numbers a few times, and these are unquestionably the high points of the film. Despite the contrasting animation styles, the message always stays consistent. The film's message is communicated in the clearest of terms, and it essentially says: the ways humans currently consume and treat fish are not appropriate or sustainable.

Padak, similar to all other films that comment on consumption habits and the…

One of the plot threads in Pixar's Finding Nemo (2003) sees the titular fish attempting to escape an aquarium. Beyond captivity, the immediate threat is an unruly child whose poor pet handling skills are a death sentence. It's grim, but handled with that sophisticated Pixar touch that illustrates an unpleasant reality while hoping to educate children on pet care responsibilities - all while ensuring that a generation of tots forced their folks to get fish. Nemo takes something dark and puts an almost whimsical spin on it.

Padak (2012) takes this aquarium as prison concept, but rather than a white-collar stretch goes the POW horror route - cannibalism abounds. A fish food restaurant's tank sits out on the street, on…