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Life in a Fishbowl

Play trailer Poster for Life in a Fishbowl 2014 2h 9m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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80% Tomatometer 5 Reviews 81% Popcornmeter 50+ Ratings
Three people leading double lives make difficult changes to find redemption.

Critics Reviews

View All (5) Critics Reviews
Anton Bitel Little White Lies As these three lost souls cross paths in different configurations, we see a subtly drawn portrait of Iceland burdened by a troubled history of incestuous sagas and financial crises. Mar 4, 2015 Full Review C.J. Prince Way Too Indie Life in a Fishbowl will definitely resonate with audiences outside of Iceland, but its well-handled drama can only help it so much. Rated: 6.8/10 Jun 15, 2019 Full Review Josh Slater-Williams The Skinny A film of dark material with flickers of soulful hope amid its doom and gloom... that help it transcend its more routine elements. Rated: 3/5 Feb 25, 2015 Full Review Jennie Kermode Eye for Film An intelligent script and strong acting bring life and depth to the characters. Rated: 4/5 Feb 23, 2015 Full Review Jamie S. Rich Oregonian It's slick, to be sure, but all the hand-wringing shakes out very little insight into the characters or their sadness, much less what lies beyond. Rated: C Feb 11, 2015 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (3) audience reviews
Audience Member In short: Several parallel plot lines coming together but the mixture disappoints. Characters not interesting enough to warrant the two hours running time. Not boring, just useless and unrewarding Saw this at Noordelijk film festival 2015 in Leeuwarden (NL). Long winded way of storytelling, without enough substance and devoid of interesting protagonists, taking more than two hours running time. Starting as independent parallel plot lines, we see gradually more and more of the main character's lives intertwined, but it takes time to get hold of the big picture. Alas, it is all interesting enough to make an effort to piece it together. The superficial viewer should look past the embedded morale that men always get away with their wrongdoings and that women always suffer. There is one instance (only one!) where we see hard work and honesty rewarded (the fresh banker) while his colleague (always talking about team playing) changes his report (luckily, the boss found out). Nearly at the same time he threatens the school teacher not to reveal anything about their encounter in "Florida", he also tells his wife that nothing happened and that she has to trust him. So his morale is dubious at least, though it may be due to panic. The other instance of rewarding good behavior is when the writer/poet who accidentally winds up as a rich man, shares some of his wealth with the part time call girl, but we have to overlook that his way of babysitting is irresponsible because of his drinking habits. All in all, no saints and no angels in this movie, only real people with all kinds of faults combined with good features. Yet, none of these are unusual or worth devoting a movie about it, so I get stuck with a feeling of disappointment after sitting out more than two hours. It was not boring, just useless and unrewarding. Technically nothing wrong, well shot, and casting/acting was believable. Apparently I'm at fault, as nearly 1000 IMDB users awarded a 7.5 score on average. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/27/23 Full Review Audience Member Brilliant film about relationships. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/18/23 Full Review Audience Member Brilliant movie in every way! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Life in a Fishbowl

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Cast & Crew

Qissa Panjab 86% 74% Qissa Panjab Watchlist Down River 100% % Down River Watchlist Ville-Marie 71% 26% Ville-Marie Watchlist Brotherly Love 60% 79% Brotherly Love Watchlist TRAILER for Brotherly Love Nostalgia 38% 46% Nostalgia Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis Three people leading double lives make difficult changes to find redemption.
Director
Baldvin Zophoníasson
Producer
Birna Paulina Einarsdottir, Julius Kemp, Ingvar Thordarson
Screenwriter
Birgir Örn Steinarsson, Baldvin Zophoníasson
Genre
Drama
Original Language
Icelandic
Runtime
2h 9m