I Want to Be a Shellfish
Watch Trailer1944, in the depths of World War II. Toyomatsu Shimizu is a completely typical barber from a remote sea-side town who lives frugally but happily with his wife Fusae and their five-year-old son. Eventually, though, the army beckons and he is drafted. One day an officer on the battle-field orders him to kill a captive U.S. soldier. Although Toyomatsu lacks the spirit to kill the man, and only wounds him in the arm, the victorious U.S. soldiers will not accept this, and Toyomatsu is arrested and tried as a war-criminal. And he receives the cruelest sentence possible...
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📋 Film Details
| Original Title | 私は貝になりたい |
| Year | 2008 |
| Country | Japan |
| Genre | TV Movie, War, Drama |
| Director | Katsuo Fukuzawa |
| Runtime | 139 min. |
| Rating | TMDB: 8.3/10 (3 votes) |
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🎬 MovieFinder's Take
Masaki Kobayashi's film is a profound meditation on conscience, framed by the brutal absurdity of war. It follows an ordinary man crushed between military duty and his own humanity, executed with a minimalist precision that makes every silent moment resonate with existential weight.
What lingers after the credits is not the historical detail, but the haunting echo of a simple question: what remains of a person when everything human is stripped away? A masterfully restrained tragedy about the cost of survival and the memory of peace. — MovieFinder Editorial
Director: Katsuo Fukuzawa
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The stark silence of a prison cell. Fading memories of sea salt and laughter against concrete walls. A palpable sense of irreversible loss and quiet resignation.
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