Ralph's Movie Reviews: LITTLE FISH

Saturday, February 25, 2006

LITTLE FISH

Drama

BACKGROUND
Set in a Sydney suburb nicknamed “Little Saigon” for its large Vietnamese population, the area is known as the heroin capital of Australia

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Cate Blanchett: Tracy Heart, a 32-year-old recovering heroin addict who manages a video store
Hugo Weaving: Lionel Dawson, Tracy's former step-father who is still having a problem with drugs
Noni Hazlehurst: Tracy’s mother Janelle
Martin Henderson: Tracy's brother Ray, a small-time drug dealer
Sam Neill: Bradley (Brad) Thompson, a big-time drug dealer
Dustin Nguyen: Jonny, Tracy's ex-boyfriend

REVIEW
It’s not easy to shake your past despite your best efforts. This is the major theme of the movie and superb acting makes it very convincing. The gritty rough world of drugs contrasts sharply with the kind of life Tracy is working so hard to attain. We can only watch as she tries so hard against a stacked deck.

CLASSIFICATION

for frequent drug use and brief sexuality.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
Lionel’s Last Will and Testament is dated Wednesday November 15, 2004. That was a Monday not Wednesday.

P.S.
The title refers to small blue fish-shaped packets of liquid heroin.

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my ratings system

I've always thought that telling too much about a movie or warning someone about a "twist" at the end deprives the person the pleasure of seeing it as it unfolds, so I don’t do it. You may not always agree with my rating of course, but at least it is an unbiased opinion unlike some of the full time professional reviewers who are on the studio’s payroll.

A few movies you won’t see any review from me:

Scary movies: I’m the world’s biggest chicken and just hate getting the crap scared out of me. I can handle an unexpected door slam, that kind of thing, but a movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat…not for me. Sorry.
Movies geared to the young teen and pre-teen crowd with dialog comprising mostly of crude remarks, awful jokes and lots of rude, socially unacceptable body noises. "The Spy that Shagged Me" comes to mind. (I wonder if the kids know what the British verb to shag someone really means? They probably do; I bet you it’s the parents who haven’t a clue).
Sometimes Hollywood gets on a roll and they produce a series of movies that are all very much alike. For example movies about the CIA were very popular and so we had The Bourne Identity and Bad Company and The Sum of All Fears. They all had the same basic theme and it becomes repetitive. I will see some, but not all of them.

FYI this is my rating system:

0 stars = Terrible: so bad it’s not worth talking about; in fact, I’d pay you not to go
= Lousy: I actually got up and walked out before the end it was just that bad (no kidding)
= Not so good: thought about walking out but hung in just in case it got better (but it didn’t)
= A so-so good movie: I enjoyed it somewhat but wasn’t all that crazy about it
= A really good movie: I recommend seeing it
= An excellent movie you just got to see! I suggest you put it on your "To Do List" it’s that good.

some favourite websites

For those into it, Nitpickers at

has more movie mistakes than you could ever imagine. My contributions can be seen if you check out the Nitpickers Registry and click on the link Nitpickers Listed by Nitpicker Number, select the group 45,401 - 45,500 and drill down to number 45411. Although I have 56 nitpicks to my credit, some have almost 2,000. You wonder sometimes where they find the time to do it.