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Review

Little Fish – Movie Review

Little Fish is one of the reason’s that Australian Film fails to bring Australian audiences to the box-office. Before you go off and write me a nasty email, let me explain.

Firstly, lets talk about the film itself. Little Fish is a 2005 Australian film directed by Rowan Woods and written by Jacquelin Perske. Set in Little Saigon district just outside Sydney, it’s a story about Tracy trying to make something of herself after a history of drugs, family problems and boyfriend troubles. The film stars Cate Blanchette as Tracy, a video store manager with a past of bad debts due to heroin addiction. Her father Lionel, an ex-football player (Hugo Weaving) is still hitting “the horse” and has alienated everyone in his life apart from Tracy. Her brother Ray is a crippled doll bludger who sees an opportunity to make a big score by dealing in drugs with his mate and Tracy’s ex boyfriend; Johnny. This leaves only leaves Tracy’s mother (Noni Hazlehurst), bravely attempting to keep her family together and the drug king-pin (Sam Neill) as the last major players in the film.

Does this seem somewhat convoluted already? Actually, the pacing of the film makes it fairly straight forward and we see over the course of the film the relationships of all the characters and the situations bring them together with the one common element of Heroin.

I won’t ruin it for you, but lets just say, the players you figure will bite the bullet by the end, do. Is it a happy ending? You will have to watch to find out, but with the typical drug themes seen in Australian feature films of this genre, you can guess which side of the coin it lands on.

Back to my original statement. This film is well acted, moderately well scripted and does go from point A to B without any major hiccups. It ticks all the boxes to win awards in Australia, emotional moments featuring characters breaking down – check. Family drama where no one is right – check. A resolve that is believable yet ultimately more depressing than a hollywood film – check. A smattering of multi-cultural actors – check. A well known set of Australian actors – check. A ‘deep and meaningful’ story about every day life – check. No audience escapism – check.

The formula for Australian films is so repetitive and trite that anyone with a seemingly hard luck story or a crime drama/comedy could come along and get major critical approval, yet still get bugger all sales in the box-office! No, I am not saying these films are bad, what I am saying is that its not the type of films the Australian audiences want to see. Go have a look at a list of successful Australian films, in and out of our country. You will start to see a trend that most of them feature the ability for the audience to escape from reality. Mad Max, Priscilla Queen of the Desert and even Kenny all feature a style of film-making that takes the viewer outside their daily lives and gives them something new. Watching our favourite actors delve into the harsh realities of their characters isn’t sellable material for the most part. Lets see the great Australian fantasy film, bring on more films from Greg McLean and the Spierig Brothers, hell even more Baz Luhrman and George Miller. These people are not afraid to bring something the audience wants but in an Australia way.

As for Little Fish. Unless you are wanting to watch Hugo Weaving spiral out of control in a fine acting performance and have little else to do for 2 hours, then rent it. I personally give it a “Meh” as it is nothing new to behold even if the performances are fairly good.

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About The Author

Bruce Moyle

Self-proclaimed media addict, Bruce is the technical power house of Joffre Street Productions which includes being a founder of the world (in)famous podcast (Cool) Shite on the Tube. When Bruce isn't working on this website, he is working on other peoples websites and new media solutions. Movies, comics and 50 foot robot wrangling is where Bruce is at.

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Article Information

  • Posted: Wednesday, November 4th, 2009
  • Author: Bruce Moyle
  • Filed Under: Film, Review
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Comments

One Response to “Little Fish – Movie Review”
  1. Blonde Lusty Team Blonde Lusty Team says:

    I didn't mind Little Fish, but yeah I fully agree with what you say here. – Very good review Mr. Moyle =)

    Australian Films seem to be all so, so- well 'depressing' these days, If it isn't about death, sickness, suicide, drugs or rape then it isn't an Australian film- as it seem of late… Lighten up Aussies!

    November 6, 2009 at 6:24 am

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