When I was about sixteen my younger sister and I got off the school bus in the afternoon and when we walked home from the stop we couldn't find our parents. We immediately looked at each other and fearfully whispered "The Rapture!" No lie. We believed Jesus had come and taken our parents but that we were somehow not worthy to go. (My sister still believes this over forty years later--I rejected it by the time I was nineteen and today realize that the event occurred during the Great Tribulation when Nero was Caesar of Rome.) Anyway, I watch 360+ films a year, and never before today have I lain down for an afternoon nap after watching one and dreamed additional scenes--plausible situations that fit well with those inside the actual film. This gem is 'The Virgin Suicides' meets 'First Reformed' meets 'Higher Ground', but then again, it is really none of those films but stands well on its own with no comparisons (except for beautiful blonde daughters as with TVS). In a weird twist, the victims of the televangelist portrayed in this film are Catholics and not your run-of-the-mill Pentecostals or Baptists who are normally taken with such ideas. (I have known Roman Catholics to divert from church teaching and accept Darbyism, also called the Rapture Doctrine, so the scenario is plausible). Overall this is a depressing film with little to no humor, but the entire cast drives it forward breathtakingly, from the teenage punk boyfriend in his big bubba truck to the three sweet sisters to the guilt-ridden father to the gentle-spirited priest to the self-righteous church congregation and rural neighbors of the suffering family.
Review of Fishbowl
