As this film appears to be completely forgotten about, I thought I should review it. My mum went to school with the writer, who gave us a VHS copy when I was a child. This review is based on my memory of that because I haven't seen it since and can't see anywhere to find it now. However, it was a good film.
My memory runs like this: a small group of children from Mousehole, who like to draw eyes on their hands and call it "the witchy eye" (maybe I'm conflating this with Pan's Labyrinth but I think they also placed their eye-hands over their real eyes), become obsessed with an eccentric old fisherman who lives in a boat on the top of one of the headlands. They eventually discover his tragic story (I forget what it is but it involved something at sea - maybe a failure to catch anything) and decide to help him by stealing hundreds of fish and placing them all around the boat he lives in. He wakes up in this "field of fish" and is over-joyed.
I remember enjoying the film very much. Sadly Cornwall doesn't have much of a domestic film industry and most films set there don't really capture the spirit of the place; this one does. It has that unique combination of free-spirit and deep connection to the coasts (I can't say land because the sea matters just as much). It was well filmed and acted. I don't know if the young people in the cast went on to anything but I hope so. It's only a short film but the concluding image of the old fisherman in his worn out boat surrounded by silver fish has always stuck with me. If you can, I'd recommend watching this.
My memory runs like this: a small group of children from Mousehole, who like to draw eyes on their hands and call it "the witchy eye" (maybe I'm conflating this with Pan's Labyrinth but I think they also placed their eye-hands over their real eyes), become obsessed with an eccentric old fisherman who lives in a boat on the top of one of the headlands. They eventually discover his tragic story (I forget what it is but it involved something at sea - maybe a failure to catch anything) and decide to help him by stealing hundreds of fish and placing them all around the boat he lives in. He wakes up in this "field of fish" and is over-joyed.
I remember enjoying the film very much. Sadly Cornwall doesn't have much of a domestic film industry and most films set there don't really capture the spirit of the place; this one does. It has that unique combination of free-spirit and deep connection to the coasts (I can't say land because the sea matters just as much). It was well filmed and acted. I don't know if the young people in the cast went on to anything but I hope so. It's only a short film but the concluding image of the old fisherman in his worn out boat surrounded by silver fish has always stuck with me. If you can, I'd recommend watching this.