Customer Reviews

Smiling Fish & Goat on Fire

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Smiling Fish and Goat on Fire is a funny film with a lot of heart. Bill Henderson is a treat to watch. If you like independent films with great script and great talent, this is worth the purchase.

This is a real feel good movie. Don't let the fact that it was made on a low budget turn you off. It's a fun story of two brothers who fall in love with a superb sub-plot about African American early movies. The acting is good by all and the story is romantic and sensitive. Lots of fun moments too. Watch this with your wife or girlfriend. I guarantee it will win you points big time.

While America's critics were generally split (with a negative bent according rottentomatoes.com) on this little film, with the notable exception of Roger Ebert, my favorite critic. Ebert reported that SFGOF and Bill Henderson (Clive) got a standing ovation at the 2000 Toronto Film Festival. And it was well deserved. This little film, shot for $40,000 proves once again that one man's treasure is another man's trifle. Or worse.

Nevertheless, I adored SFGOF. Some critics ridculed the wise old codger played by Bill Henderson (one of those great character actors who you always say--I love that guy!). They say he is cliche or "patronizing." I found his performance moving and inspirational. He plays a sick old african-american man who spins tales of love and loss. Look if Judi Dench can get an oscar nomination just for showing up in a film (am I the only one who notices this?) and medicore films, like Chocolat, get nominated for Oscars--then Bill Henderson, deserves, at minimum, some kind of recognition.

The heart of the film is Henderson, but his role is secondary. The Martini brothers, Smiling Fish (the happy go lucky younger bro) and Goat on Fire (the more serious older one) do a wonderful job in their triple roles of acting, writing and producing. The story of two brothers is both funny and touching. While not quite the study of sibiling relationships as say, You Can Count on Me, this is still wonderful. The brothers have lost their parents and have a special bond. They in lousy relationships and the film studies the fall of those. It gains strength as it looks at the new women (including the wonderful Christa Miller of Drew Carey, who gives a understated performance here) in their lives. There is not a whole lot new ground covered here. Still, the young actress who plays Miller's daughter is wonderful. As is Rosemarie Addeo, as a beautiful Italian woman who loves Dumbo. Kevin Jordan, the director, does a nice job keeping the film sweet and not melodramatic. There is a gentle kindness and warmth to this movie. It may not sound like much to some critics. But, in
these times, SFGOF makes it mark on your heart.

It is rated R, and I understand why. I do not suggest it for anyone under 25 who is not married. I bought it because of one of the actors in the movie, and I wish someone had warned me that it was a little graphic. All in all, it is enjoyable because I like those sappy stories where a boy grows up and stops being an idiot.

I can't believe that you can strap together $40,000, shoot with used digital camera's, round up some lesser know talents, get a Kevin Jordan to direct, and then produce a wonderful film, a film almost in the style of old 1930's romance; yet, deliver a commentary on modern cultural gyrations on the single's front. My hat's off to Derek and Steven Martini for writing and producing a gem.

Chris is the uptight one and Tony is the free spirit. Their folks have croaked leaving them with a small LA home. Chris's girlfriend from high school and beyond is one awful kwetch, while swinging Tony has given his girl a reason to smash his head with a toaster. Enter the mail man, Drew Carey's Christa Miller, and Tony is head over heels for the first time in his life with both Christa and her precosious daughter. Clive, Bill Henderson plays the old black boom man from race films of the mid-century. He teaches, err mentors Chris on how to find the one that is so special..., but there's complications. Anna, Rosematie Addeo is so knock out gorgeous in a skin-tight red dress, I'm not sure why she's attracted to nervous Chris. No matter, let it go. It's movie magic.

This is a good one. Watch with wife, girlfriend, significant other and get dreamy.