SPECIAL PRESENTATION: Little Fish

Big Fishies eat little fishies as the phraseology goes, though in the case of Rowan Wood's Little Fish I'm puzzled as to what went on at all.

Tracey (Cate Blanchett) is desparately trying to advance her life as best she could after becoming involved with heroin use in her 20s. Now clean and sober, but still living like a teenager in her mom's house at 32, she is revisited by her ex-boyfriends surrogate father, Lionel (Hugo Weaving) and ex-boyfriend Johnny (Dustin Nyugen Nguyen) who still seem rather attached to her in different ways. Lionel's former heroin use still haunts him as the after-effects rage through his body and Johnny returns from Vancouver after being sent away due to a car accident that amputated Tracey's brother's leg.

But has anyone really learned from their mistakes? Apparently not ...

As we all know, it's bloody hard paying the rent and putting food on the table. An honest job still doesn't rid you of demons as Tracey soon finds out after being rejected for a business loan to partner with her current boss, the owner of a video store in a Vietnamese community in Australia. But with the ressurgance of her exes, she soon finds herself needing to enter the world she only wish she was never a part of.

It was certainly a very different film but I don't know if it was a good film. I don't know if it was because I was three rows from the front at the Elgin Theatre. I don't know if it was because I lacked the leg room even for my small frame in the luscious seats. Was it because the pacing was very stop and go making the drama even out till the climax? And ultimately what is the point of the story? Is there a point? Was all of this on purpose? Who knows?

What I did like were the subleties director Rowan Woods consciously made with his screenwriting wife to reflect a contemporary Australia. The diversity of Australia that is rarely seen on screen ... and that I got to see Dustin Nyugen's nude backside.

I left the theatre in a limboed state of confusion. Did I like it? I don't think it was that great. Would I see it again? Yes, but on the smaller screen and from a respectable distance. Do I regret seeing it? Ultimately, No.

For more info, you can check the film's Official Website and make the judgement for yourself.