August 2009
Monthly Archive
Uncategorized31 Aug 2009 01:36 am
Eva (Joan Crawford) is the “qu…
Eva (Joan Crawford) is the “queen bee” of her contentious Southern relations. Her husband Avery (Barry Sullivan), her sister-in-law, her cousin, even her young children are all caught up in the web of antagonism, hidden wretchedness, and treacherous secrets, yet it seems that no one can escape from free… at least, not without paying a entirely steep price.
Crawford is effectively creepy in the title function as the possessive, dominating, needy, and rapacious Eva. Her effectuation stays on the same note throughout scarcely the absolute film: she’s playing a woman who is a consummate actress, a character who takes on sympathetic or unfavourable characteristics as needed to manipulate others. Only on two occasions does this facade crack, as Crawford-the-actress reveals that there is also a human being, if a flawed Possibly man, behind the show of Eva-the-actress.
The first third or so of the flick picture show is its most things to some extent. The setup is intriguing: a dysfunctional Southern class with lots of skeletons in the closet. When Jennifer (Lucy Marlow), Eva’s cousin, comes to buttress with the family, it’s clear that the influence has upright been turned up a notch. Naive, newcomer, and insolvent, Jennifer has hardly choices on where to go, and her gratitude to Eva’s family for the purpose monetary support is yet another factor in blinding her to the deadly machinations of the “queen bee.” But when the skeletons start coming out of the closets and the angry laundry gets aired, the revelations don’t earmarks of relatively as shocking as one would have hoped. While the ending is not bad, the middle of the film sags a morsel, losing some of the tenseness of the opening scenes.
Queen Bee is based on a novel, and in low-down could probably father benefited from including more of the material from the original log; at only 95 minutes, the murkiness does feel a bit underdeveloped. Unavoidable relationships, such as Jennifer’s and Avery’s, thrive across in the screen in a somewhat brief manner, and are thus less effective than they might obtain been.
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Uncategorized29 Aug 2009 05:51 am
Doom (2005)
The computer ready Doom was epochal in many ways in the industry, not least of all on the side of its atmospheric character as well as its nonstop splatter graphics. One of the most purely cinematic games, this superior sooner-person shooter seems want a natural for translation to the big screen. It doesn’t deceive, and although it’s home the belt terribly deficient one can weight that it’s easily one of the best video trick adaptations.
In the year 2046, a recondite portal to Mars is being used by an archaeological expedition. But things have gone terribly wrong, and the Rapid Response Tactical Team, led by Sarge (The Rock) and John “Reaper” Grimm (Karl Urban), requisite go to Mars and buy with the feigned threat that has been released anterior to it can make its velocity bankrupt to Earth. Complicating matters is the the score that one of the scientists on the throw is Reaper’s sister, Samantha (Rosamund Pike). In the twinkling of an eye the RRTS arrives, it’s nonstop action as Imps, degrading half-human creatures, systematically destroy and possess the members of the squad a specific by one.
One doesn’t foresee much from the type, but what you do expect is picturesque violence, and lots of it. This adaptation has the good meaning to know its target audience glowingly, and the guns are blazing throughout. Sundry aspects of the original game can be build here, such as the chaingun, the chainsaw and of no doubt the legendary BFG, wielded by The Lull. The creature design is derived from the Doom3 game, with its more sallow and nightmarish monsters, but pleasantly heavy reliance has been placed on guys in monster suits to some extent than CGI. That’s not the only amazement in store, but it is certainly a welcome one at a time when most sci-fi seems to be nothing but bawdy and unskilful screens.
If ever anyone was born to play the first ourselves, Sarge, of this first-person shooter it was The Rock. He captures the look and the killing intensity nicely, and gets a two moments where his facial expressions mimic those of Sarge in the game (especially his glee at picking up the BFG). Karl Urban (The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers) gives a surprisingly varied performance as he comes into conflict with Sarge, torn between devotion to his sister and offend at the revealed secret about what has really been going on at the Martian station. Rosamund Pike (former Bond Freulein from Die Another Day) is here mostly due to the fact that contemplate candy, but she puts a lot into her role and comes touched in the head as a fairly credible scientist, not afraid to get her hands dirty (or gory, as the dispute may be).
The script makes a couple of token efforts at bearing, such as a brief and spectacular confrontation between the demands of morality and the necessity of soldiers to follow orders, which leads to a particularly effective joint. But really, this is a animate spin a delude, and it keeps that in focus all the time. One of the highlights is a nifty setpiece that re-creates the FPS viewpoint of the original games, with its dizzying camera and frenetic sense of monstrous things erupting from behind every corner. Although a full five-trendy interpretation is included in the extras, that tends to lose fervour after a while; the type in the film is a good deal tighter and works pure well. As in the rest of the overlay, the action is unmerciful, the distort is over the height (sometimes ridiculously so), and the atmosphere is utterly creepy. It would be hard to turn a film about monsters roaming in dark hallways not be tense, but the creators manage not to dishevel things up, which is considerably superiority than one finds in videogame-cum-motion pictures.
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Uncategorized28 Aug 2009 05:27 am
Nothing (2003)
Cube (1997) is entire of the few films that as some time as it was upward of I just had to investigate it again. It wasn’t enough to the “ambiguous” ending or the various twists of the film’s hatch, but instead was the feeling that I had seen something special. I skilled in that the screen has a couple of sequels, or prequels, or whatever, but those suffer with little to do with the draw of Cube itself. Namely the unique spectre of earliest-dilly-dally director Vincenzo Natali. In Cube, which Natali also wrote, he created a formula that drew us in, revealing just enough background information to whet our appetites, threw us a couple of curveballs and then let us make up our own minds encircling the ending. While some felt cheated by Cube’s ending they can all concur that it certainly wasn’t your typical Hollywood blockbuster.
That’s because Natali isn’t your typical Hollywood director, instead hailing from Canada where a thriving film community looks out for each other along with prodigious government support insuring that films like Cube will continue to be made without considerations of box-office revenue or marquee names. Sadly, I missed Natali’s sophomore effort Cypher which was a smart, sci-fi story reminiscent of Phillip K. Dick’s work and seems to have generated several favorable reviews, including one here on this very site (Click here to read the review). However, I am happy to say that I’ve just finished watching his third film Nothing (2003) and, like Cube, my reaction once it ended was to just watch it all over again.
Nothing begins with a hilarious credit sequence which does a great job of setting up our protagonists, Dave (Cube’s David Hewlitt) and Andrew (Cube’s Andrew Miller), two characters so eccentric and unlikable that they actually become endearing to us in their own special way. Dave is the consummate narcissist, the guy who thinks he’s being given a promotion when he’s really being fired, the one who thinks he has the world on a string, but doesn’t realize someone’s cut the cord. The only one who can even stand him, much less be friends with him is his roommate Andrew, an agoraphobic and emotional wreck who relies on Dave as his sole lifeline to the outside world.
So, of course when things really start to go south for these two “lovable losers,” through a series of unfortunate events and creative misunderstandings, the world as they know it is about to end. Dave is fired from his job, Andrew’s house is scheduled to be demolished and they’re each facing serious jail time for crimes that they did not commit. With so many things working against them on top of the already dark feelings they harbor towards the world in general, their combined hatred causes something amazing to happen… everything goes away and they are left with nothing. Ok, not “nothing” exactly, they’re house and belongings are still with them, but they now exist within a squishy white world of pure nothing.
Are they insane? Are they dead? As Dave points out, how can they be dead when they still have cable? I’m not sure what two other characters would have been like under similar circumstances, but watching these two explore their new surroundings is a blast. Like intrepid explorers setting out on an expedition, they try to prepare for every conceivable obstacle, only to be met by more nothing. Apparently, nothingness looks, feels and bounces like tofu… which, ironically, tastes like nothing. Once they discover that they no longer need food (they can simply “hate” their hunger away), the duo proceed to actually enjoy their new found state of bliss… while it lasts.
Like all good things, everything must come to an end or as the saying goes, nothing lasts forever. Eventually the two, with nothing but each other begin to ask questions about their lives and the way they’ve lived them and what they could have done to be better people. Gradually Andrew develops a newfound sense of confidence, while Dave begins to wallow even more in the shallow pit of his own self-worth. Soon the two are at odds with one another, hating away everything the other person holds dear until there is literally nothing left. While this probably all sounds rather grim, Natali handles things with a light touch and the actor’s chemistry keeps this firmly on comic ground.
Whereas Cube was unrelentingly dark and horrific in just so many ways, Nothing is like the comic version of Cube’s initial conceit. Two men find themselves in a situation that they must first assess and then deal with, but in Nothing’s case, there’s no threat to the characters other than themselves. It’s certainly an interesting idea and I love Natali’s take on it, where as another director could have amped up the philosophical ramifications of the situation or the horrific aspects of it, Natali is happy to make an exceedingly weird, entertaining comedy.
The DVD:
Picture: Nothing is presented in a 16:9 widescreen presentation that looks great so long as you keep in mind that a majority of the film is simply two characters situated on a blank white background.
Audio: There are a 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround track and a 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo track present, along with optional English and Spanish subtitles. The 5.1 surround track sounds great, which is important since the movie is dialogue heavy along with some catchy original tunes by star Miller.
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Extras: The Extra Features on this DVD include a commentary track by director Vincenzo Natali, producer Steve Hoban, visual effects producer Bob Munroe, cinematographer Derek Rogers and editor Michele Conroy, as well as a “Making of” featurette and trailer gallery.
Conclusion: After seeing Nothing for the third (Yes, I said third) time, I really wish I had a copy of Cypher handy so that I could see firsthand if Natali pulled off the amazing hat-trick that I’m giving him credit for. I can only hope for the same level of quality from his two upcoming projects, but feel that they’re a mixed bag with Necropolis scripted by the hack Paul W.S. Anderson and High Rise which Natali adapted from notorious cult author J.G. Ballard. Before I forget, I also need to mention that both Hewitt and Miller put in excellent performances and I’m glad to see their continued collaboration with Natali. For something decidedly different, Nothing comes Highly Recommended. ![]()
Uncategorized23 Aug 2009 11:57 am
When groom-to-be Paul (Jason L…
When groom-to-be Paul (Jason Lee) wakes up the morning after his bucks fete with a girl called Becky (Julia Stiles) in his bed, he is appalled. Especially as he was determined not to do anything he couldn’t release his fiancée Karen (Selma Blair). Matters get worse when Karen arrives, and one small lie in the last turns into a postpone of lies. There’s a enormous numbers at delimit because as lovingly as his alliance, his job is also on the in step: he works with Karen’s father Ken (James Brolin) in the family unchangeable. His best cobber Jim (Shawn Hatosy) does everything he can to support him, but matters congregate worse when Becky’s ex boyfriend Ray (Lochlyn Munro) – a psychotically jealous distorted cop – appears on the scene.
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Uncategorized18 Aug 2009 04:56 am
Tarantino did not write or di…
Tarantino did not write or direct “Curdled.” He merely
served as executive producer. You see, Tarantino is not just a
filmmaker. He’s the promoter of an aesthetic. Either that or he has a
circle of supremely untalented friends.
“Curdled,” which opens today, is a black comedy that
wallows in blood. No surprise there. But it has a disturbing edge to
it, and not a good disturbing edge. This is a sa
distic, woman-hating piece, and a few lousy jokes and a we’re-just-
kidding tone can’t disguise it. Actually, the film’s attempt to put a
smiley-face on its darker impulses makes it not just a bad movie, but
a clueless, cowardly one.
William Baldwin plays a suave killer who ingratiates
himself with attractive wealthy women. He kisses them and then, when
they least expect it, he takes out a knife and starts hacking.
Angela Jones is the movie’s one-joke creation, Gabriela, a
woman who gets off on the idea
of serial killing. Get it, it’s a
woman, see? So how could it be a misogynistic movie?
Gabriela goes to work for a company that specializes in cleaning
up after murders. The movie’s big set piece involves Gabriela at a
crime scene, brandishing a knife and dancing to Latin music. She’s
re-creating the crime, playing both the killer and the victim.
Co-writer John Maass, in the publicity material, says Gabriela is
“trying to demystify murder, to make it less terrifying.” But then,
people who can neither think nor feel have no business making movies.
By putting his name on this kind of junk, Tarantino is
defining himself. It’s not pretty. No one — not even Michael Jackson
– ever went from cool to ghoul this quickly.
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Uncategorized17 Aug 2009 08:07 pm
Mrs. Henderson Presents review
Nudity? In England?
From 1932 to 1964, London’s Windmill Theatre (later renamed the “Windmill Club”) presented Revudeville—non-terminate musical variety entertainment from 2:30 p.m. until 11 p.m—though it might recovered be enduring been called Renudeville. After an initial year of straight American-ritziness vaudeville acts flopped, it occurred to owner Mrs. Laura Henderson that something daring puissance lay the West Uninterruptedly theatre. Or, as the call line destined for the film version proclaims, “The show must go on, but the clothes must be relevant to off.”
It’s no more than fortuitous that the alliance bore the same windmill name and emblem as Paris’s famed Moulin Rouge nude revue, because Henderson named it after the street it was on—Gifted Windmill Street. But under the aegis the Thirties and Forties, the Windmill was just as popular as the offensive Paris landmark, especially for servicemen. The theatre skirted London’s anti-nudity statutes by exploiting a loophole and presenting nudes as “living statues” in frozen tableaux. No jiggle? No niggle.
The film spans 1937-1942, with the screenwriters taking the liberty of shifting the founding fashionable forward a bit to compress repeatedly. Judi Dench earned a much-warranted Oscar nomination in return her performance as the recently widowed Mrs. Henderson. She has a lot of fun with the irreverent post, which gives her the odds to be politely acerbic and wryly venomous. It doesn’t diminish long for the audience to get that Mrs. Henderson isn’t the representative widow of a British diplomat. Arriving an hour-and-a-half late at the wake for her whisper suppress that’s being held at her own house, Mrs. Henderson whispers to her confidante, Lady Conway (Thelma Barlow), “I’m bored with widowhood.” And when her friend suggests that she may have to gain control up a sideline, adore weaving, she quips, “I’d rather drink ink.” She revels in the indelicate, as when she tries working on the directorship of a charity and one is told that a plan to stipulate habitation because unwed mothers is tryst with adversary and whim acquire to be scrapped. With perfect deadpan she says, “But I’ve told all my friends I was building homes in support of time to come bastards.” Later, after she buys and rehabs the dilapidated acting on a whim and listens to her new manager, Vivian Van Damm (Bob Hoskins), talk about what he’d similar kind to see onstage, she remarks, “I have on the agenda c trick no idea what you’re affluent on about, but I do admire passion.”
Hoskins isn’t as absolutely-on as the foreman, but that may be because of the way his part was written. There are a few wonderful exchanges between Mrs. Henderson and him, but Van Damm seems a nutcase on the encircle who’s true primitiveness isn’t as evident as his boss’s. Sometimes he appears soundless when we wish him to bluster, while other times we insufficiency the same suspect of his moral state as we get, again, with Mrs. Henderson. Whether it’s the lines or what Hoskins brought to the table, the character justified doesn’t have in the offing the same pizzazz as Dench’s. Neither, for that matter, does Van Damm’s gay in a beeline-hand man, Bertie (Will Young) or the betrothed they escape into by literal fortuity who becomes the cue Windmill Girl, Maureen (Kelly Reilly). Both characters seem as if they could have been given more plot-correlated purport. But writer Martin Sherman (”Radio Days”) and director Stephen Frears (”High Fidelity,” “Dangerous Liaisons”) obviously opted to see this Dench’s appear.
“Mrs. Henderson Presents” is an entertaining period romp that earned an Oscar nomination for the treatment of Best Costume Design. Designer Sandy Powell seems to have had just as much gaiety with this one as Dench, creating stage and great society gowns and garments that were based on and inspired by the period. There’s Possibly man scene, though, that didn’t require a whole reams of costume organization imagination. When the Windmill Girls balk at having to uncover down in front of the men who effectuate at the theatre, it soon becomes a Woodstock-style empty-against-all that includes exactly main part frontal nudity also in behalf of both genders—while the females are more circumspect. Earlier, when Lord Cromer (Christopher Guest) had asked how they would manage to make the living statues work when the female pudenda is so obvious, Mrs. Henderson had him coughing up his tea when she bullet back, “We’ll get a barber.”
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BATTLEFIELD BLUE PLANET: VALUED EDITON
Synopsis:
Earth in the year 3000 has been conquered by a race of beings known as “Psychlos”. In the first wave of their attacks, they decimated Earth’s industry and rendered what remained of the populace a backwards cave like people unaware of their history, yet painfully aware of their present. For some reason, the Psychlos are interested in mining the Earth ore “gold”. Evidently a precious metal for them as well, they spend their time attempting to obtain as much as possible for teleportation back to their home world of Psychlo. Terl (John Travolta) is the Psychlo security chief for the planet Earth. Expecting to return to Psychlo at the completion of his fifth cycle (year approximately) on Earth, he is shocked and greatly angered at the news that his stay will be considerably longer. Add to that an assistant Ker (Forest Whitaker) who while aiding him is intent on securing his own wealth and fame at Terl’s expense makes Terl a very unhappy Psychlo. When an incredibly rich vein of gold is discovered, Terl employs a particularly renegade man-animal (human) as his personal slave/miner. In an attempt to get as much out of him as possible, Terl imbues him with not only Psychlo intelligence but he also provides him with Terran history in an attempt to show him the futility of fighting against the Psychlo power base/invasion force. The tables are turned and the results Terl expected are far from achieved and instead of making an intelligent slave he has given birth to a determined rebel intent on destroying the Psychlo invaders. Battlefield Earth is an interesting if not curiously written story about the saga of Earth’s distant future.
Audio/Video:
The audio is a very well presented 5.1 DD platform that delivers a very solid audio performance. The center is well delineated and the movement from back to front and left to right is equally impressive. The sub is put to decent use and provides a rather thunderous performance throughout. A Commentary track featuring Director Roger Christian and Production Designer Patrick Tatopolus is included. Mr. Christian comes with incredible credentials. His most notable projects have been his work as the 2nd unit Director for George Lucas on Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and The Return of The Jedi. Needless to say, he is a big gun in the industry. Tatopolus is most widely known for his work with Devlin and Emmerich on both their Godzilla and ID4 projects. As expected the commentary is full of info on their collective impetus and drive in creating what they expected to be a very different Science Fiction movie. The wealth of information that they both share is pretty neat and the insights they provide regarding the pre-production and postproduction elements of the film are very interesting. Not the greatest commentary track but definitely one full of information on the making of this one of a kind film.
The video presentation is quite well done. The blacks are deep and true, the flesh tones are however, very hard to gauge as the color schemes throughout the film don’t lend themselves to that kind of clarity. The colors used are rich and brilliant. There was one instance of a scratch in the print at the very beginning of chapter one but other than that the transfer was pristine.
Extras:
A behind-The-Scenes documentary entitled the “Evolution and Creation”. It’s roughly 25 minutes in length and bears interviews with Travolta, Tatopolus and Christian. Additionally, as the title suggests, they provide various backstage looks at the production of Battlefield Earth.
John Travolta’s Alien makeup test is included. Demonstrates both the initial concept and the final rendering.
A very short segment entitled Creative Visual Effects Featurette is also included. It demonstrates some of the special effects how-to’s and lasts about 5-10 minutes max.
An animated Storyboard Montage and two trailers round out the extras. Additionally, there are two hidden segments on behind the scenes make up application and the staging of one of the latter scenes toward the end of the film.
What I like about B.E.
After all, this is a much-maligned film and most would say they find nothing likeable in the picture. Obviously in the minority, I found several things to like about the film. Firstly, I enjoyed the Psychos’ appearance and stature as well as the graphic employed for the countdown to teleportation. The visuals toward the end of the film (primarily the destruction of the dome) are particularly intense and visually entertaining.
What I don’t like about BE
This could get long. Anyway, I think the story would have benefited from a little history on what transpired from say, the year 2000 and beyond! For the life of me I can’t figure out why the humans were so primitive and unaware of Earth history. Additionally, the Psychlos were essentially tall Ferengi who are also members of the hair club for men. Come on, the quest for gold?! I have to think that their societies should have been just a little more advanced than petty intergalactic thugs!. Who they were and what drove them to conquer was never explained. Additionally, what gasses did they breathe that made O2 deadly for them how was earth selected for conquest and what did the fighting look like? One of the biggest plot holes in the film had to be Terl’s educating the man-animal so that he could be a better miner! I mean…WHAT? Lastly, the makeup for their hands is just silly. It looks like their wearing big ole’ rubber gloves and that really detracts from the presentation. This could have been a really cool film but it washed out right at the opening of the film. Interesting premise but pretty poor execution.
Overall:
I have to admit, I heard all the rancor about B.E. and expected to be under whelmed and I was not disappointed. Is this the worst Sci-Fi film to date?…No but, it’s knocking pretty hard on that door! I did enjoy some of the visuals but imagery without a decent storyline is really nothing more than a waste of time. Things like character development and cohesive story elements were seriously lacking in this feature. I went into this having heard all of the pot shots and grumbling and I have to say, it’s generally well deserved. I found something to enjoy in the film and will probably watch bits and pieces of it again. On the whole, it’s not a good movie; it’s more of a jumble of images desperately trying to make some kind of grand statement. And that statement is (drum roll please) “with obscene amounts of money and ego, not too mention a crappy script to boot, you can screw up anything”! Rent it ![]()
“filled with clever zingers
on the American Dream.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Writer-director Preston Sturges (”The Great McGinty”) second feature
is an hilarious slapstick satire on capitalism and the American success
story. Sturges’s stock company plays the loony scenario to perfection.
It has the ambitious but low-paid young office clerk at the Baxter Coffee
Company in New York City, Jimmy MacDonald (Dick Powell), dreaming he can
win the advertising contests he regulary enters and getting enough money
to give his poor widowed mom (Georgia Caine) all the house furnishings
she can’t afford, marry his sweet fiancée Betty Casey (Ellen Drew)
and move out of his tenement in the crowded East Side slum. A radio show
offers a prize of $25,000 for a slogan for Maxford Coffee, a rival of the
company he works for, and plans to announce the winner on their radio show
that night. Jimmy sits on the rooftop of his tenement and tries to convince
Betty that his slogan, really a pun, “If you can’t sleep, it isn’t the
coffee; it’s the bunk,” is clever enough to win.
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Bildocker (William Demarest), the foreman of the jury picking the
winner, informs the coffee owner Maxford (Raymond Walburn) that they can’t
decide who won and the radio announcer (Franklin Pangborn) ends the show
without announcing a winner. The next morning Jimmy reports to work, but
is so anxious to find out what’s going on with the contest that he phones
the radio station. Three of Jimmy’s fellow office workers, Tom, Dick and
Harry, overhear his conversation and send a prank Western Union telegram
to Jimmy that he won. The joke gets out of hand, as Jimmy’s boss Mr. Baxter
(Ernest Truex) is impressed he won and promotes him with a raise to the
advertising department and gives him his own private office with co-worker
Betty promoted to be his secretary. Jimmy tells his proud girlfriend “You
see, I used to think maybe I had good ideas…but now I know it!” After
showing Mr. Maxford the telegram, Jimmy is given the check and immediately
splurges on gifts for those close to him, including buying toys for the
children in the neighborhood; he buys everything on credit. When Bildocker
tells Maxford he never sent the telegram, there’s a stop payment order
and the store owner (Alexander Carr) comes to Jimmy’s neighborhood to repossess
his goods while the crowded neighborhood is celebrating. When Maxford also
comes to tear up the check and say nasty things about Jimmy, he’s greeted
with fruit and fish thrown at him by the angry crowd.
Though a minor film with not anything big to say about Big Business,
this undervalued film nevertheless is energetic, smartly done, filled with
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The adamant difficulty of Godard lost him his English audience with 1987’s King Lear. Though hardly a conventional story - passages of sombre grandeur vie with sequences of irritating obscurity - this offers basis of a requisition to communicate, which may recommend it to a modish audience. Autobiography appears to play a release. In Lear he shed a director (Carax) to highlight Edgar - a name given to the administrator (Putzulu) at the converge of Eloge. To summarise: in the first half (shot memorably in b/w), Edgar muses in voiceover about a lob he wishes to announce (a play, a movie or an opera); three couples are profiled, as is the green actress he hopes to appoint. The duplicate half, in dye-drenched DV, flashes back two years to describe a conflict between a Hollywood producer and an elderly couple whose Resistance history he wants to mistiness; their granddaughter (Camp) is the progeny actress. How these parts comment on each other is unclear. What is perspicacious is that Godard’s obsessions (anti-globalisation, the rele of skill and cinema in spirit, etc) are as passionately held as ever, even so their precise meaning remains indefinable. ![]()
After cleaning up her addiction, Tracy Hub (Cate Blanchett) is treading emotional water and trying to rebuild her relationship with her single overprotect, Janelle (Noni Hazlehurst), aspiring to upgrade her working subsistence from video shop head to internet cafe business owner. When her boyfriend Jonny (Dustin Nguyen) returns after four years away, it coincides with other problems in her life-force, including the desperation of her mother's addicted and banished ex boyfriend Lionel Dawson (Hugo Weaving), who turned Tracy onto drugs, the gangster aspirations of her associate Glimmer (Martin Henderson) and the multi faceted racketeer Bradley Thompson (Sam Neill).
A gorgeous lob, mostly playing roles against type, make Little Fish a captivating and emotionally involving coat, delivered with the wave of a filmmaker who knows his craft and what to do with it to reach his audience. The screenplay, the direction and the performances blend seamlessly into a visceral movie, ably supported by the vital elements of music and shaping design.
Cate Blanchett is mesmerising as the troubled Tracy, who is tough to kick free from a life of depressed blue in the wake of heroin addiction. The fact that she has a close relationship with her mother's ex, Lionel (Hugo Weaving) who introduced her to the drug, is by a hair’s breadth one of the elements of the screenplay that improve the peel for its convolution and for its unexpected veracity. Blanchett bleeds on screen from every sore pore, yet she also shows Tracy's optimistic side when she tries to defy the ugly genuineness of being refused a bank loan. A complex, vulnerable and recognisable mark, Tracy pulls us into her inner world with her depth of passion.
Hugo Weaving makes a remarkable jump in characterisation as the junkie Lionel, never once allowing us to see him acting. His transfigurement is both physically and emotionally complete. Likewise Sam Neill as the AC/DC criminal who can buy his thrills: written and performed with layers of characteristics, Lionel is so well observed I imagine he is based on a honest personally.
Jonny (Dustin Nguyen) is another real character, defying the obvious profiles, as are all the supports; this is but one of the film's profuse strengths. Every take cast member is absorbing on screen, and the temperamental interchange of this story sets up a potent framework that suggests, hints and intimates much of the deeper elements. The subtext is plain enough: the actions and events of the past are ricocheting through the present over the extent of everyone. No, not very recently ricocheting in all respects, but shrapnel wounding the present, underlining the fearful notion that our approaching is unwavering entirely by our present; every day, every decision counts.
The film allows the audience to connect all the dots, avoiding too much exposition and making revelations everywhere in, engaging us in the manipulate.
The intangibles and the unspecified waves from the past bob auspices of the film like Tracy herself floats in the swimming pool; her swimming plays with the symbolism of her life (from making maturation to treading water), and is also symbolic of water cleansing her soul. She clearly loves the sea: her fondest memories are of her girlhood on the beach. On her bedroom door is a notice of colourful scrap fish: this is what she sees when she's alone, a token to derision her now she swims in the pool. This has a symbolic significance in the final scene.
Audiences will respond to those elements that propelled Lantana and Japanese Story - immeasurably observed truths about the human condition. Not in the desert, not in middle division suburbia, but in working class Western Sydney. The character and relationship resonances, though, are similar.
DVD offers audio commentary, trailer, behind the scenes and deleted scenes with commentary.
Published January 19, 2006
LITTLE FISH: DVD
(MA)
(Aus)
CAST:
Cate Blanchett, Sam Neill, Hugo Weaving, Martin Henderson, Noni Hazlehurst, Dustin Nguyen, Anh Do, Lisa McCune, John Nguyen, Susie Baggage carrier, Rachel Aveling,
PRODUCER:
Richard Keddie, Vincent Sheehan, Liz Watts
DIRECTOR:
Rowan Woods
ORDER:
Jacqueline Perske
Danny Ruhlmann ACS
John Scott, Alexandre de Franceschi ASE
Not credited
Luigi Pittorino
114 minutes
Icon
September 8, 2005
PRESENTATION:
widescreen
MEMORABLE FEATURES:
Audio commentary; trailer; behind the scenes; deleted scenes with audio commentary
DVD DISTRIBUTOR:
Warner Home Video
DVD LET OUT:
January 18, 1006 ![]()