This was quite an enjoyable film overall, and has a fairly unusual tone due to the collision of several different genre-associated elements. The concept, taken from a novel that I have not had the chance to read, is straight science fiction. It's a nice one, and it is pleasant to see and follow the implications of the prototypical scary sea-monster turning out to be not only a slightly-modified human but also the male love interest.
I was a little puzzled by the logical the science fiction, though; Ichthyander has been kept under the sea because, unlike most humans, he has fish gills as well as lungs. But he must remain out of the water to exercise his lungs or they will atrophy, and he's been kept away from human society... because it will create a great underwater society sometime in the future?
So we have a futuristic-looking home setting for our old scientist (who is nonetheless dressed in a high collar and frock coat that looks like it could have come from the 1860s). Then we have the main setting, which is an undefined Spanish-speaking country by the sea, which mostly looks like it could have been the same a hundred years previously as well, with the exception of the automobiles and the motorboats next to the pirate-style boats of the pearl-hunters.
Slightly puzzling as it may be, though, the setting look gorgeous and is a joy to watch. I read in another comment here that the film was actually shot in Azerbaijan, which makes the creation of the rich and beautiful setting all the more impressive. The numerous underwater scenes are impressive as well, though I kept wondering why the human Amphibian Man kept putting on his scaly fish-costume to go into the water.
Though despite the exotic setting and the scientific trappings, it is really a tragic romantic melodrama, and an adventure film. Fortunately, it does these pretty well, and the drama of the romance between the woman trapped in the wrong marriage and her Amphibian lover (whose unfamiliarity with shore life is nicely displayed in the stroke of a couple scenes) ends up being nicely effective.
It might not always make sense, but Amphibian Man is a pleasant escapist film that deserves no ill will.
I was a little puzzled by the logical the science fiction, though; Ichthyander has been kept under the sea because, unlike most humans, he has fish gills as well as lungs. But he must remain out of the water to exercise his lungs or they will atrophy, and he's been kept away from human society... because it will create a great underwater society sometime in the future?
So we have a futuristic-looking home setting for our old scientist (who is nonetheless dressed in a high collar and frock coat that looks like it could have come from the 1860s). Then we have the main setting, which is an undefined Spanish-speaking country by the sea, which mostly looks like it could have been the same a hundred years previously as well, with the exception of the automobiles and the motorboats next to the pirate-style boats of the pearl-hunters.
Slightly puzzling as it may be, though, the setting look gorgeous and is a joy to watch. I read in another comment here that the film was actually shot in Azerbaijan, which makes the creation of the rich and beautiful setting all the more impressive. The numerous underwater scenes are impressive as well, though I kept wondering why the human Amphibian Man kept putting on his scaly fish-costume to go into the water.
Though despite the exotic setting and the scientific trappings, it is really a tragic romantic melodrama, and an adventure film. Fortunately, it does these pretty well, and the drama of the romance between the woman trapped in the wrong marriage and her Amphibian lover (whose unfamiliarity with shore life is nicely displayed in the stroke of a couple scenes) ends up being nicely effective.
It might not always make sense, but Amphibian Man is a pleasant escapist film that deserves no ill will.