Customer Reviews

Little Fish [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2.4 Import - Australia ]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I saw this dvd in the previewed section at Blockbuster, not knowing what it was really about. But my admiration for Blanchett and Neill compelled me to buy it, and I'm glad that I did.

Blanchett's character, Tracy, is trying to get her life back together post drug addiction, but society is slow to forgive a bad, broken-down history. One of my favorite scenes is when she's at the bank and shoves the loan officer's photographs of her children onto the floor, smashing the glass all over the place. Another time she breaks something is at the restaurant, where she finds Jonny with his family. The violent outbursts are certainly in line with her character (understandable, I mean - not excusable). She's frustrated, trying to get money for her business, and turned down (though it is very understandable why the bank would do that, as most financial institutions aren't too keen on the risk of lending to someone who's on their "second chance" at anything). Also, she gives her old boyfriend Jonny a second chance, but he ends up deceiving her.

I appreciated how the movie as a whole was unpredictable with great character studies (although I wish Sam Neill's character had a larger role). In the dvd special features section, Blanchett says that she loved how the movie centered on 30 year olds who weren't "cool" because they didn't know what they were doing with their lives, still living with parents - and most movies ignore those kind of people and the struggles they face.

The end kind of leaves you hanging. The beach part was beautiful, though I hated seeing the bug near Lionel's eye.

Really sad music, too. I loved the karaoke bits, and the song that was playing in the beginning at the reunion dance party, as well as the song that the children sang. I don't think I can reproduce the lyrics here, but the song is quite intriguing and fits with the movie so well. It's called "Flame Trees."

Writer Jacqueline Perske and Director Rowan Woods chalk up another successful Australian film in LITTLE FISH, an intense, very personal drama about how illegal drugs affect communities, families and individuals. The story begs patience from the viewer as it is gratefully one that does not spell everything out for the viewer, but instead introduces the characters slowly and with hints of backgrounds that bring them to the moments of crisis the timeframe of the film uses.

Taking place in the Little Saigon area of Sydney, Tracy Heart (Cate Blanchett) is a recovered junkie who lives with her mother Janelle (Noni Hazlehurst) and partial amputee brother Ray (Martin Henderson), each trying to make ends meet in a life previously destroyed by drug addiction. Tracy has been clean for four years, works in a video store but has dreams of owning her own business, dreams that are thwarted by banks refusing to give her business loans solely on the basis of her previous addiction. Ray, his amputated leg the result of a car accident somehow connected with drugs, still sells heroin in 'little fish' containers, occasionally calling upon Tracy to make pickups and deliveries. The now absent stepfather Lionel (Hugo Weaving) fights his own addiction both to drugs and to his dealer Brad (Sam Neill) with whom he has been in a gay relationship since his divorce from Janelle. Tracy tries to support Lionel's attempts to kick his habit, but the attempts are failures. Everything comes to a head when 1) Tracy is desperate without her needed bank loan, 2) Tracy's Vietnamese ex-lover Jonny (Dustin Nguyen) returns from Vancouver where his family sent him to avoid the persecution of rehab in Sydney, 3) Brad retires leaving Lionel without a source of drugs or love and Lionel is replaced by a quasi-normal Steven (Joel Tobeck) who kicks the last part of the film into a spin. There are no solutions to anyone's problems: things just happen and the characters respond in the best way they can with the ominous cloud of drug addiction shading their lives and futures.

The script is terse and smart and the direction is relentlessly realistic and well paced. Cate Blanchett gives a sterling portrayal of the very complex Tracy, and Hugo Weaving, Noni Hazelhurst, Sam Neill, Dustin Nguyen, and Martin Henderson are superb. This is a tough little film that does not fear to examine the truth about the effect of drugs on people's lives and spirits. It is a very fine film. Recommended. Grady Harp, April 06

Sydney is awash in illegal drugs, at least that's the impression one gets when watching the difficult new Cate Blanchett film Little Fish. Directed by Rowan Woods, the film is not only a vehicle for showcasing the wonderful Queen Kate at her very best, but shows a very gritty, desperate side of the Sydney drug scene, far from the glamorous party world of the inner-city.

The story centers on Tracy Heart (Blanchett), a 32-year-old recovering drug addict who manages a video store in the working class Western Sydney suburb of Cabramatta. Tracy's an insecure, restless and watchful girl, who is anxious to get on with her life. After four year working as the manager of the video store, her boss wants her to buy it and expand it by offering Internet access.

But her druggie past constantly haunts her and because of her record of credit-card fraud during her days on heroin, her applications for a bank loan are summarily rejected. And although Tracy has been clean for a number of years, the physical and emotional detritus from the bad old days surrounds her. She refuses to break her connections to bad-boy Lionel Dawson (Hugo Weaving), a former Australian football star and family friend who introduced her to heroin in the first place and who is still using.

Lionel is ex-lover of the local drug kingpin, Brad Thompson (Sam Neill). Brad is also Lionel's supplier and the local resident evil bad boy. After announcing that he's about to retire from the business, Lionel is thrown into a panic and in desperation turns to Tracy to supply him with his fix. But Tracy also has to contend with the arrival of former boyfriend and co-junkie, Jonny (Dustin Nguyen), a lithe and deceptively charismatic Vietnamese Australian who has ostensibly returned to Sydney from Vancouver to work as a stockbroker, but has darker motives and a hidden agenda.

Completing the foursome is Tracy's brother (Martin Henderson), who lost his leg in a mysterious car accident, and has begun selling vials of heroin, "little fish" in local pubs and clubs. Tracy's mother Janelle (a fabulous Noni Hazlehurst) is fiercely protective of her daughter and is concerned that she might start using again, and she becomes even more concerned when Jonny turns up at their house, re-igniting the old romantic spark between them.

Little Fish is an opaque, enigmatic and cryptic film, which at first glance is not easily accessible - like the pool where Tracy constantly swims, everything is hidden under the surface and it takes awhile for the plot to kick in. In the meantime, we are introduced to this eclectic cast of characters that populate Tracy's bedraggled and fractured world. Obviously whether Tracy will start using again is part of the dramatic intent, but the film is also interested in exploring the often complicated and conflicted relationships existing amongst the characters.

While all the performances are superlative - particularly Hugo Weaving as the emaciated, and beaten-down Lionel - Little Fish is really Ms. Blanchett's film. She fully embodies Kate's frustrations and anger at the world and her impatience to remake herself - to get the break that she so desperately craves for. And her portrayal of a damaged and highly-strung woman so desperate to live a "straight" life, free from the temptations of heroin is formidable.

Little Fish is a sober and beautifully played film. It's honest and uncompromising and it doesn't offer any easy answers to the problems of heroin and the day-today struggles of ex-junkies. The urge to use is always there for Kate, and the fact that she's willing to lie on her bank loan application indicate that old habits die-hard.

The cycle of secrecy and deceit is still there and can remain long after the actual habit has been kicked, proving that the drug can still have a vice-like grip on those who stay around it long after they've stopped using. Mike Leonard April 06.

Cate Blanchett makes this flick work. She makes all of her works work.

Blanchett is one of the most versital actress and also one of the best actresses of this generation. Her works include:

Notes on a Scandal

Heaven (a surreal movie, and perhaps her best role to date)

Veronica Guerin

The Missing

The Gift

The Aviator

Etc.

Every movie I've listed has her playing a role that is completely different from each other, and she fails not to deliver.

Little Fish is outstanding.

See it if you appreciate great acting.

I had withdrawal symptoms, hadn't watched a Cate Blanchett movie in years. Must be because she has a real job now, at a Sydney theatre, rather than making flimsy movies for more money than she can possibly earn now.

This woman is one of the best. Here she gives us a credible 32 y old depressed struggling woman in Sydney. She is a manager in a video shop and wants to become a partner by injecting money for an expansion of the business. She can't get a loan due to her credit reports.
She has a younger brother who is a drug dealer. She has a former boyfriend who is a drug dealer. Her father, not in the picture, possibly dead, was a junkey. There is an ex-stepfather (Hugo Weaving), or rather she is friends with her mother's ex-boyfriend, who is a junkey and a former rugby star and a sometimes lover of the local big man in the drugs distribution (Sam Neil). This 'old man' (must be 50 at least, imagine that) is badly losing it, he can't afford his habit any more, but he can't stand the rehab. The only thing that he can do is reminisce about good old times on the beach with his shiny shiny girl, and look forward into the abyss.
You get the picture. We get a slow, convincing, impressive snapshot at a depressing life style. Big fish and little fish normally swim in different parts of the water. Sometimes their paths cross and that can't be good for the little ones.

I totally disagree with the reviewer who said this is a waste of time.

I bought this as a previewed dvd from Blockbuster as I love Cate so much. During the first 5-10 minutes of the film I was a little confused as to who the characters were and what the relationships were between them. But I think that makes for an interesting film...not the same old predictable movies that Hollywood seems to be making these days...soon enough you start to piece together how these characters are related to one another.

Cate and Hugo both give outstanding performances and the whole cast is excellent. I also like the fact that it is an Australian film and the film takes you to a place you might not otherwise have experienced.

I was so interested to learn more about the background of this film that I listened to the director's commentary got a great insight into the plot and the acting.

Cate continues to impress me as one of the best actresses around and this is not a waste of time in my opinion. It's a haunting and poignant film and I just cannot get it out of my head...it stays with you long after you've seen it.

Since many have recounted the plot, I will just start in with the film as a whole. The pacing of the story works perfectly to build great suspense. The music as well fits in beautifully, especially the Karaoke in the scenes in Little Saigon.

All the actors are first rate. Kate Blanchette and Hugo Weaving both won awards for their intense portrayals of Tracy Heart and her step-father, Lionel, an ex champion athlete.

The actors who play brother Ray, her mother, Janelle, her ex-boyfriend, Jonny all excel at bringing the characters to life in a completely believable manner.

Finally San Neill as the real stone-cold killer, Bradley Thompson, is scary and convincing. Of course Australian and European directors make suspense and crime films which differ from the Hollywood versions but often the films from other countries are far superior as this one is to most Hollywood suspense films since after the wonderful film noir masterpieces.

Little fish is about a woman trying to escape her past and get on with her life. Tracey, a former heroin addict, finds it hard to break her shackles and find her independance that she so desperately wants. Being in her 30's, still living with her mum and brother dealing with the return of her ex-boyfriend after a 4 year abscense and trying to help her drug addicted step father kick his habit, only add to all the frustrations Tracey (played by Blanchett) feel in her life. With little glimmer of hope, the banks keep refusing to loan her money to kick start her own business and a second chance for a new life, you can see Tracey become more and more frustrated and angry as the story progresses. Director Rowan Woods develops a background of all the characters brilliantly, but doesn't really take the script anywhere. Best known for his work on the play, "the boys", Woods doesn't seem able to take the script by Jacquelin Perske anywhere, it just kind of sits dormant.
The script centre's around the lead character, plated brilliantly by Cate Blanchett, it is worth seeing the movie for her performance alone. With an ensemble cast including Hugo Weaving, Sam Neill, Martin Henderson, Lisa McCune, Noni Hazlehurst and Susie Porter, it is a who's who of Australian cinema. The chemistry between Blanchett and Henderson, as her brother is outstanding and it is these two characters that carry the film. Henderson's charcter Ray is fighting demons of his own, having lost his leg in car accident caused by Jonny, Tracey's ex boyfriend, who's return opens old wounds that seem to affect every character, especially Tracey and Ray's mum, played by Noni Hazlehurst.
Set in and around Cabramatta, a violent and drug riddled suburb of south-western Sydney, this is a tense, often depressing drama, that is slow at times, but moving and powerful. Probably about 20 minutes too long, the ending is slightly disappointing and leaves too many issues unresolved and up in the air. There seems little closure for the charcters involved and you are left wondering if there was a happy ending or a tragic one.
The music and cinematography is good, the acting is excellent, but overall I couldn't help but be a little disappointed after watching it. Certainly not as good as woods previous effort, 'the boys'.

This is one of the few Cate's Aussie production since she shot to fame after the reign of Elizabeth. The production has a solid cast with Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving, Martin Henderson together with a great local cast including Noni Hazzlehurst, Sam Neil and Susie Potter.

The story set in the Vietnamese area of Cabramatta in western Sydney, an area most well know about the gangsters and unique Vietnamese culture. Cate plays a heroin addict turned video shop manager who tried to go up the rank by partnering with her boss to extend the shop's business. However, it is because of her will to live a new life that brought back the pass to haunt her even more. Her family is dysfunctional, largely due to the introduction of heroine into the family by the veteran addict and ex rugby league star (come on it's Australian, so rugby league is an obvious choice) played by Hugo Weaving. Because of him, Cate was addicted and needed to go through a tedious home cleansing procedure to rid of her addiction, and her mother was her key to suuccess. Because of Hugo, Cate's brother played by Martin Henderson lost his feet in a car crash because he was high with his friend and Cate's ex-boyfriend Justin Ngyun (of 21 Jump Steet). There is no doubt that Hugo loves Cate and Noni, but Noni could never forgive Hugo's doing in the past. To make it more complicated, Hugo was involved in a same sex relationship with his ex-manager played by Sam Neil. The relationships among this bunch of people just tangled on in the movie.

Little Fish literally means the fish shaped soya sauce containers used for hold drugs in the movie. However, the plot was far from simple. The whole production is very heavy and reminds you about movies like 21 Grams and Requiem of a Dream, but with a strong Australian touch. The setting in Cabramatta actually gave the movie a strong sense of presence and made the characters more believable. However, the pace of the movie, as with most Australian movies were very dragging at certain parts and the lack of strong motives for certain characters actually undermined the movie alot.

Performance-wise, Cate's did a great job but there were no surprises because it's now expected for her to do a good job. But she did shed all her glamour and put on a good show for the movie. In fact as the character that tied every other characters in the movie together, she is great and provided the necessary beats for the movie. Hugo Weaving and Noni Hazzlehurst are easily the two other cast members who outshines everyone in the movie. This is mostly due to they got some of the best roles. Hugo is very believable in his performance although sometimes you couldn't figure out why he is an ex-rugby star for his built. Noni Hazzlehurst is great and all the scenes between her and Cate are the reasons for you to hang on to the movie because you do care about the development of their mother-daughter relationship. Martin Henderson and Justin Ngyun didn't really shine mostly because of the lack of depth in their character. Martin put down his pretty face for more serious role but he role itself doesn't have enough weight to initiate a transformation for him. Justin's character was just mediocre.

Without a doubt, Little Fish is one of the better recent Australian productions in the recent years. However, as a production, it still suffers the problem of most Australian movies nowadays - a solid and attention gripping way of story telling, and the indulgence of over the top serious dramatic lines. Without a doubt, with limited budgets for all Australian movies nowadays, there are lots of things that can't be done as their Hollywood counterparts, however, a tight plot with substance is what we need. Crash and Brokeback Mountain didn't really have astronomical budgets but they managed to hit through the heart of the audience because of the story telling, and that's what modern Australian movies need to work hard on. Nonetheless, the saving grace is the movie got a great cast that managed to bring the experience through to the audience. Another recent production Jindabyne is less lucky in all departments. So if you enjoy Australian movie and love Cate, this is a movie that you can watch. You won't be too disappointed but at the same time you won't be excited either. It could be a good Saturday night stay home movie.

This movie is as the best Australian movies tend to be,in your face,unflinching and with a realism that holds onto you long after it has ended.
I am an Australian who lives in America and i really wish that more movies here tackled issues no matter how distasteful or life affirming in this manner.
There are fine movies made here to be sure,but so many swap realism for a cutout or so called sexier version of it.
The performances by Blanchett and the rest of the cast are great.
Nothing is overused or watered down in the many scenes that while on the surface appearing mundane are loaded with venom or longing like the drug the movie is centered around.
The spareness of scenes like tracy back at the train station scoring then stumbling past the children's choir singing an anthen like version of Cold Chisel's Flame trees is so full of longing that i could almost feel myself thinking of situations and times in my own life.
If you like reality that hurts like life does at times watch this and it will remind you that movies that confront reality make understanding yourself that little bit easier.
Ian.