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Little Fish
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List Price: $14.99
Our Price: $12.99
Your Save: $ 2.00 ( 13% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: First Look Pictures
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Sam Neill, Hugo Weaving, Martin Henderson, Noni Hazlehurst
Directed By: Rowan Woods
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Average Customer Rating:   
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Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0687797112491
Format: Closed-captioned
Label: First Look Pictures
Manufacturer: First Look Pictures
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: First Look Pictures
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2006-04-11
Running Time: 114
Studio: First Look Pictures
Theatrical Release Date: 2005
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: This is perfect for film school students
Comment: Everyone else, however, will find it hard going. Film school students will admire the unrelenting portrayal of dreary lives, the eliptical script, the A listed high powered cast giving meticulous well thought out performances. Film critics, many of them film school graduates, have already pronounced it worthy, worthy, worthy. I found it boring, boring, boring.
Why do filmmakers often seem to forget that they are storytellers? It is a storyteller's obligation to entertain or at least involve the audience. Unrelenting portrayals of dreary lives are just that...dreary. And because the script is so eliptical (very arty though)it is difficult to get a grip on the emotional stakes for the characters in what is going on.
Watching this movie was like eating a trout filet with too many small bones, enjoyment is spoiled by having to pick pieces of story out of a script that gives one too little to chew on amid too many annoying and pointless distractions.
Despite that, Hugo Weaving does manage to engage some sympathy. He is a fine actor. I wish the script had served him as well as he served it. Cate Blanchett was wasted in a totally thankless role. The actress playing her mother, I would like to see more of. For their sakes, I gave this movie three stars.
Customer Rating:
Summary: This is a hidden gem
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: What a waste of Cate Blanchett's talent
Comment: This is undoubtly the most boring movie I have ever watched, even Cate Blachett's great talent could not save this movie. The plot is ho-hum and not worthy a story for a movie. The scenery was grungy as well as the characters in the movie. The conversation was thick with
Aussie accent and difficult to understand and the characters mumbled.Save your money and purchase one of Cate Blanchetts other great movies of which there are many.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Outstanding acting, acting, music, suspense
Comment: 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.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Slow but entertaining
Comment: 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'.
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