Little Fish

Author: 
Unknown

Little Fish, written and directed by Rowan Woods, is a film about a dysfunctional family learning to cope with the lies and betrayals of their recent past.

The film follows Tracey, played by Cate Blanchett, a recovering drug addict and video store manager seeking a bank loan to open her own business. Throughout the film Tracey splits her loyalties between her mother Janelle, played by Noni Hazelhurst, and her mother’s former companion, a drug addict and former football star, Lionel Dawson. Lionel, played by Hugo Weaving, supplied Tracey with the heroine that put her on the path of drug addiction.

Little Fish is a cloying and predictable morality tale that does not succeed in treading any new ground. The film uses the cliché trope of the “innocent child” to demonstrate how this once normal family moved to this dysfunctional place. The film uses a series of flashbacks that show younger versions of Tracey, her brother Ray, played by Martin Henderson, Lionel, and Janelle swimming and playing on the beach together. These sugary-sweet flashbacks, interspersed throughout the film, are intended to remind the viewer that even these broken people we were once blameless for the woes now plaguing them and the one’s they love.

The syrupy theme of the innocent child is employed again at a time when Tracey is tempted to resume her drug habit, a habit she kicked four years earlier. As Tracey seeks out a bathroom within which to shoot up she stumbles on a school auditorium where a youth choir is performing for their families. Once Tracey sees all the innocent faces she opts not to shoot up and returns to her home.

In a further effort to bring the morality tale home, the film ends tragically with a drug-related death as if to remind the viewer that no drug addict can ever escape the temptation of the illusive high. Viewers, however, can and should avoid the temptation of paying to see this movie.

Little Fish will be released in the lower mainland soon. To learn more about the film visit the official site at, www.littlefishmovie.com.

  • Posted on: 11 March 2016
  • By: Administrator