Miracle Fish (2009)

8 year old Joe has a Birthday he will never forget. After friends bully him, he sneaks off to the sick bay, wishing everyone in the world would go away. He wakes up to find his dream may have become a reality.

Director:

Luke Doolan

Writer:

Luke Doolan

Stars:

Karl Beattie, Kieran Darcy-Smith, Sebastian Dickins

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 11 wins.

Cast

Credited cast:
Karl Beattie	...	Joe
Kieran Darcy-Smith	...	Peter Unwin / TRG Negotiator
Sebastian Dickins	...	TRG #1
Brendan Donoghue	...	Man
Jason Doric	...	Matt
Cath Esposito	...	Teacher
Ashley Fairfield	...	TRG #2
Eliza Logan	...	Front Office Lady
Tara Morice	...	Mum
Angus Russo	...	Peter

Storyline

8 year old Joe has a birthday he'll never forget. His school friends tease him for lack of birthday gifts. Joe hides out in the school sick bay and falls asleep, wishing the everyone in the world would go away. When he awakes, he finds his school empty and wonders if his wish has come true. But his fantasy is shattered, when an event darker than the thought of a being the last person on earth, confronts him.

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Plot Keywords:

school | birthday | novelty | fortune telling | boy | 

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Genres:

Short | Drama

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Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 March 2010 (Mexico)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Druid Films, Blue-Tongue Films, Qoob

Technical Specs

Runtime:

17 min

Sound Mix:

DTS-ES

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Originally the film was going to be called '65 Cents', but before filming began the name was changed to 'Miracle Fish', as this was a more prominent theme of the film.

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Connections

Featured in The Oscar Nominated Short Films 2010: Live Action (2010)

User Reviews

Wow...talk about unpleasant

I am going to say something rather radical. Over the last several years, I've gone to the showings of both the animated and live-action short films that were Oscar nominated. For the first time ever, I went to a showing and didn't particularly like any of the films--as was the case with the live-action ones for 2010. I didn't think any of them were bad but i also didn't think any were Oscar-worthy--and most of them were amazingly unpleasant--like the Academy deliberately tried to pick the most unpleasant films they could this year. Perhaps 2008-9 was a poor year for live-action films or perhaps this just shows a bias of the people picking them. However, I can't see the public in general enjoying most of the films or wanting to see them.

Of all the films I saw, this might just be my least favorite and it took unpleasantness to amazing depths. It's sad, because up until the end I was enjoying the film and it appeared to possibly be a comedy. However, the ending was so awful that I can't see why it was nominated. I must say, however, that a couple of the people who saw this movie with me did not agree--they liked it far more than me.

The film shows a day in the life of an Australian kid. It's his 8th birthday and he's going to school. However, his day isn't going all that well and a couple kids treat him life dirt--laughing at him because he's poor and cursing profusely at him. Later, when he goes to the school health clinic, he goes to sleep. When he wakes up, oddly, everyone is gone!! I loved this part of the film, as the boy ran about school doing all the things we all wished we could have done when we were that age. Amazingly, however, the film takes a horribly dark turn at the end--ending in a bloody scene that seemed a bit exploitational. Having a young boy exposed to such nastiness was too much for me--as a parent I felt like the film became too dark and I hope the kid acting in the film wasn't traumatized by the experience. See the film and perhaps you'll see what I mean.

Overall, a decent but unpleasant film.