Padak (Swimming to Sea is the title on Amazon Prime) is South Korea's version of Finding Nemo. Just look at that movie poster. Sure, mackerel aren't as flashy as clown fish, but that poster with the triumphant fish and happy seagulls in the background made me instantly think of the Disney counterpart. In the words of another famous (alien) fish, "It's a trap!" Padak is set up like Nemo's portion of the Disney movie but, instead of being trapped in a goofy dentist's office, Padak is trapped in an aquarium full of edible fish and trying to avoid being filleted alive and served as sushi in the attached restaurant. Graphically. Like the fish in the aquarium can SEE into the restaurant as this happens to other fish that were just in the aquarium with them. This is basically Finding Nemo if Finding Nemo were about the life or death struggle in an unfair and uncaring society that is basically waiting for you to be picked off and served as food or grow weak enough that your peers can eat you and fill their own greedy bellies. That's the simple synopsis. This movie says very deep and complex things about the world and our place in it. It is pretty brutal and pretty savage and pretty bleak (O.K., REALLY bleak) but there are a few musical numbers to make it seem like a traditional animated kid's movie (trust me IT IS NOT). The really brilliant thing is that this movie acknowledges that it is playing on Finding Nemo's popularity to garner an audience (one of the movie posters has Padak and a clown fish nose to nose) and there IS a clown fish scene in the movie but the clown fish here represent the pretty socialite people who recoil in disgust when they are forced to be in the presence of common, working class bait fish. It's a cool and kind of shocking scene. Like this whole movie. I really liked it. I mean, I liked Finding Nemo too but in a very different way. Instead of LOL "He touched the butt" moments, there are "I wonder if it is morally ethical to eat the corpse of my dead friend because I am hungry" moments. Yeah, kids eat that kind of stuff up!
10 Reviews
Holy mackerel! This computer animation motion picture is really disturbing!
ironhorse_iv11 June 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Coming from one of the world's largest consumers of Ikizukuri sashimi marine products, South Korea. This film is intensely raw! Written and directed by Lee Dae Hee. The animated movie released by E-DEHI studios tells the story of a fish known as Padak (Voiced by Hyeon-ji Kim) desperately trying to return to the ocean by escaping the captivity of a seafood restaurant before she finds herself on the chopping block. Without spoiling this survival fish tale too much, while parts of the plot might sound reminiscent of Pixar's 2003 film 'Finding Nemo'; it's far from being a kid's movie with the large amount of fish gore and violence throughout the 1 hour and 18 minutes runtime. Lots of visual shock value scenes of marine life slowly being eaten alive after being decapitation slice and dice through fish lens pov. None of it was done in a comedic effect like 2016's film 'Sausage Party' with a similar premise. It was done in a way that would make anybody want to join PETA or go vegan. Along with eating scenes, the way the human pack marine life into cram tanks for transfer reminds me so much of the train carts of the Holocaust. The dark grey cell shading animation really does work for these types of visuals. This is followed up with a trippy psychological series of nightmarish song montages that further drill into the audience's brain how horrifying the eating situation really is. While jarring; the surrealism visuals are beautifully done with different art styles ranging from tradition 2D hand drawing, water painting to Ukiyo Era artwork. All of them somewhat relating to what is happening at that specific part of the story. For example, the choppy cut out animation in the first song really does captivate the fears of not seeing fully your own demise. This is followed close with a 1982 'Pink Floyd The Wall' sequence echoing ideas of alienation. Then there is the jazzy well sung lyrics of second musical number 'Think about it' is about accepting the nihilism fate of the doom situation while the visuals of joyful Hayao Miyazaki's anime style play in the backdrop. 'Forgive Me' is by far the most powerful with its simplistic relax drawn animation about the twist and turns of faith. While, somewhat over the top preachy and heavy handed with church metaphors. You still really get the idea that as crooked as a hook gloomy cold fish Master (Si Yeong-Joon) might have change for the better after that song even without out of the blue deux ex Machina holy like lance to help him. If not, there's nobody really worth rooting for in the end. After all the bait and switch climax was truly shocking. The posters for these films were very misleading. Added the disrespect to the corpse with the cigarette. You can't help feeling mad. While the ugliness of the human beings both visually and morality was 99 percent intentional. I don't find the movie to be racist or full of ethnocentrism beliefs. Personally, I have no problem with people eating marine life as I do the same, but I do agree with the idea that animals used for consumption should be killed humanely. Nevertheless, I do see the cultural relativism of Ikizukuri style cooking. However, the other South Korean Padak dish made from fried chicken and scallion sounds a little more appealing and delicious than any of the alive dishes here. The meals here are troublesome. To add onto that the realistic fish cannibalism parts can also be hard to swallow. Especially when the protagonist is forced by hunger to eat the smaller clownfish in one of the aquarium tanks even if the creatures kinda deserved it for being semi discriminatory. To be fair, this wasn't the restaurant owner's fault or farm raise producers. Carnivore Fishes like the ones shown in this film do tend to eat anything for protein even other marine life in the wild, both dead and barely alive. Just nothing near the amount of meat that this film is portraying them eating. Those meal sizes are way too large. Despite that I do like how the film is also packed to the gills with references to Plato's allegory of the cave that I found fascinating. Nevertheless, the metaphor of dehumanizing prison rape with the animals trying to caught tail of fresh meats to break in the school of newbies to the pecking order harsh life in the aquarium tank was still quite upsetting. No wonder why the movie bomb at the box office. In the end, since its initial release in South Korea. The film has found it way onto online paid subscription services such as Steam and Amazon Prime under the title 'Swimming to Sea' with English subtitles. As of this writing an English dub version has yet to be released. To be truthful, I hope that day never comes because the Korean voice acting throughout this was amazing. Overall: With the semi good animation, catchy tunes and heartbreaking story. The movie is quite a catch. I can only hope that the flick can gain a cult following in the years to come. It clearly got me hooked, lined and sinker.
Frightening!
bebeneal-683098 June 2020
Warning: Spoilers
From 2012 They release that horror movie at all, the with blue fish don't want to be a good of sushi. I wanted to see this I saw all the reviews on YouTube. And remember, it's has violence, gory, terrifying, and then killing of fish of sushi.
Was not expecting to be this affected.
Avwillfan8910 July 2020
I really wanted to see this film after YouTuber Saberspark reviewed it on his channel. You basically can't find this film anywhere. Which is a shame because it's one of the more interesting, if not most gut-wrenching, emotionally brutal animated films I've seen.
This is essentially a very dark, very bleak, uncomfortable version of Finding Nemo - set and made in South Korea. In the Pixar film, Gill tells Nemo that fish are not meant to be in a box because "it does things to you."
In this film, the protagonist is danger not only from being butchered by the humans at the sushi shop, but also from the other fish in the tank, who are run by dictator Flat-fish. Because the fish are not fed, they resort to cannibalism. Combining that with the confined space and the every day dread that one of them will get eaten, they often turn on each other in nasty ways. Padak however, refuses to give in and never gives up her desire to be free of the horror of living in a sushi-tank.
There are musical interludes in which the animation changes and morphs into sequences akin to the ones in Watership Down and Pink Floyd The Wall, that are incredibly beautiful and mesmerising.
I cried much more than I would have thought at this film. The characters really won me over and were completely believable. I'm going to find it really hard to ever eat a fish again after this.
This is essentially a very dark, very bleak, uncomfortable version of Finding Nemo - set and made in South Korea. In the Pixar film, Gill tells Nemo that fish are not meant to be in a box because "it does things to you."
In this film, the protagonist is danger not only from being butchered by the humans at the sushi shop, but also from the other fish in the tank, who are run by dictator Flat-fish. Because the fish are not fed, they resort to cannibalism. Combining that with the confined space and the every day dread that one of them will get eaten, they often turn on each other in nasty ways. Padak however, refuses to give in and never gives up her desire to be free of the horror of living in a sushi-tank.
There are musical interludes in which the animation changes and morphs into sequences akin to the ones in Watership Down and Pink Floyd The Wall, that are incredibly beautiful and mesmerising.
I cried much more than I would have thought at this film. The characters really won me over and were completely believable. I'm going to find it really hard to ever eat a fish again after this.
A Masterpiece of Animal Survival
whatsupwabbaloo31 May 2020
Warning: Spoilers
There are few films as gutwrenchingly graphic or emotional as Padak/Pa-da-pa-dak/Swim to Sea
On "animated films that are SO DISTURBINGOMG11111!1! They're usually dominated by the rare ACTUAL horror titles like "Felidae" but are more often not filled up with the 'horror' of unflinching-survival-based-animal stories like "Watership Down" and "Ringing Bell".
But "Padak" is better than these, in my humble opinion. It's not a horror film but it absolutely horrifies and it does so because of the artistry, atmosphere, and character development on screen that makes it such a tough sit.
Let me try to break this down: "Lion King" is a story about people that's just being told with animals ; "Bambi" is a story about animals. "Ringing Bell" is an allegory and not literally about sheep and wolves; "Felidae" is about cats that find themselves in a very humanlike predicament. ^ In these regards: "Finding Nemo" is a story about people told with fish. Clownfish don't care for their young, drains don't lead to the ocean, ect. ect. FN is still one of my absolute favorite films, but it's not about actual fish. "Padak" is about fish. And just as "Bambi" and "Felidae" can be so disquieting when we see true animal behavior given our human-level intelligence and sympathy, it is a tough sit with only two characters having a definite (horrifying) ending.
I'm sorry if this is so Purple-Prosey. I'm just at a loss for words. It was so good in so many unexpected ways and yet still hit hard where I WAS expecting. A must watch for anyone into adult animation.
Let me try to break this down: "Lion King" is a story about people that's just being told with animals ; "Bambi" is a story about animals. "Ringing Bell" is an allegory and not literally about sheep and wolves; "Felidae" is about cats that find themselves in a very humanlike predicament. ^ In these regards: "Finding Nemo" is a story about people told with fish. Clownfish don't care for their young, drains don't lead to the ocean, ect. ect. FN is still one of my absolute favorite films, but it's not about actual fish. "Padak" is about fish. And just as "Bambi" and "Felidae" can be so disquieting when we see true animal behavior given our human-level intelligence and sympathy, it is a tough sit with only two characters having a definite (horrifying) ending.
I'm sorry if this is so Purple-Prosey. I'm just at a loss for words. It was so good in so many unexpected ways and yet still hit hard where I WAS expecting. A must watch for anyone into adult animation.
The most realistic animated movie I ever saw.
tammeraeads7 November 2020
I love this movie. The story is tragic, the animation is disturbingly realistic, the characters while cruel are still fun nonetheless, the songs are beautiful, and the ending is very sad. A perfect film for those who want to see a dark animated movie.
Very moving and authentic
mallerina24 July 2020
Very meh.
VxViper19 February 2021
The only thing working for this anti-Finding Nemo film is the shocking death scenes (which is the draw of the film) but even then they lack substance. The film wants you to feel for the characters (at least the Mackerel and Spotty) but there's no real character development that makes you feel anything for a character when they die. The cynical undertones and finger-waving the film does to those who eat fish/meat becomes quite obvious at the start and stays for the duration of the movie make it... meh.
If Finding Nemo was a Bong Joon-ho film
Rectangular_businessman8 June 2023
Warning: Spoilers
While the CGI is nothing special (And even looks a bit ugly in a couple of moments, specially with the human characters, but considering the nature of the plot, this was probably something intentional) this a rather moving film, not afraid of venturing into a very dark territory despite the cute appearance of the animal characters.
You probably might this is something derivative of Pixar's Finding Nemo. It's not. If anything, this movie is a total antithesis to the usual formula present in many CGI movies about animals, despite having a somewhat familiar premise.
There is some humor, some cutesy moments, and even a couple of musical sequences (Which feature much better animation than the rest of the movie), but this is by no means a movie for kids (Unless we are talking about not easily disturbed kids) but a very somber tale about how life can be very cruel and unfair towards those less fortunate.
It's an underdog's tale where the underdogs end getting killed and eaten alive, with only a little glimmer of hope at the very end.
If you ever wondered how would be an animated movie directed by Bong Joon-ho, then, this is for you. (Though he is apparently working in another CGI movie about a fish) If you like dark animated movies about animals such as The Plague Dogs and Felidae, you definately should give this a try.
Definately worth-watching, dated cgi aside.
8.5/10.
You probably might this is something derivative of Pixar's Finding Nemo. It's not. If anything, this movie is a total antithesis to the usual formula present in many CGI movies about animals, despite having a somewhat familiar premise.
There is some humor, some cutesy moments, and even a couple of musical sequences (Which feature much better animation than the rest of the movie), but this is by no means a movie for kids (Unless we are talking about not easily disturbed kids) but a very somber tale about how life can be very cruel and unfair towards those less fortunate.
It's an underdog's tale where the underdogs end getting killed and eaten alive, with only a little glimmer of hope at the very end.
If you ever wondered how would be an animated movie directed by Bong Joon-ho, then, this is for you. (Though he is apparently working in another CGI movie about a fish) If you like dark animated movies about animals such as The Plague Dogs and Felidae, you definately should give this a try.
Definately worth-watching, dated cgi aside.
8.5/10.
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