Examples include: Crust (2003), Calamari Wrestler (2004), Crab Goalkeeper (2006) Reading like the Interests section of a Tinder profile for someone that doesnt know how to punctuate, Sea Life Sports Movies are a narrative genre where humanoid marine creatures triumph in the face of their obvious adversity and absurdity. The genre began in the UK with Crust, where a pub owner teaches a giant shrimp to box with great success. Starring Kevin Mcnally (Master Gibbs from Pirates of the Caribbean) with a cameo from Ulrika Johnson, the film unfortunately never saw a wide UK release as it came to light that the main investor was using the film as a form of tax avoidance. It did make waves in Japan where audiences loved the premise, seeing it as a twist on the Kaiju genre, producing several other creations such as Crab Goalkeeper which is described by director Minoru Kawasaki as being like Forrest Gump, but with a crab. Since these loony creations, Kawasaki has branched out into other species, such as Kabuto-O Beetle, another wrestling movie, this time starring a stag beetle and lastly, Executive Koala which involves a leading financial manager being implicated in the murder of his wife (while also being a tree-climbing marsupial). While these may be the only three fishy films caught in the genres net, a new production starring Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz is not too dissimilar from the genre. The Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos (who brought us Dogtooth) creates a world where single people are given a month to find a mate or be transformed into an animal of their choosing. Farrell, being 'a lover not a fighter,' chooses the lobster, in part because crustaceans mate for life. Shown at Cannes earlier this year, the film received critical acclaim for its Kafkaesque oddness and finding wonder in mad fantasy.
