About Little Fish
This story is set in Little Saigon, a suburban district just outside of Sydney. Tracy Heart (Cate Blanchett) is an ex-drug addict who has decided to make a positive change in her life. She has been brought up by a single mother, and in a bid to not remain poor, aims to own her own small business one day.
Tracy has a boyfriend, Lionel Dawson (Hugo Weaving), who used to be a successful football star before he became addicted to heroin, and a brother, Ray (Martin Henderson), who has drug dealings with Bradley “Jockey” Thompson (Sam Neill), one of the biggest crooks in their town. While Tracy faces monetary problems in a business venture, her ex-boyfriend, Johnny (Dustin Ngyuen), returns from Vancouver. Johnny lies to Tracy that he is back as a financial investor, and tells Tracy that he can raise money to help her in her business. Tracy’s ordeals cause her relationship with her mother to strain (Noni Hazelhurst), and their bond is tested. In order to fulfil his promise, Johnny hooks up with Ray to cash in on a major drug deal with Brad. Tracy later finds out and becomes a part of it, after getting physically intimate with Ray.
However, she does not know that Lionel is aware of her involvement with the crime. Lionel, out of guilt that he had made Tracy a drug addict, along with his love for her, decides to help her and dies of heart problems while doing so. In the meantime, Brad’s assistant, tired of working in the shadows, kills Brad and ends the drug saga for the night. The film ends with Tracy mourning over Lionel’s death and the discovery that Lionel made a will just before meeting his end, leaving everything to her.
This is a film that could easily be your next door neighbour’s life story, because everything about it is deceivingly similar to our everyday lives. Describing the plot is touching only the surface of an incredibly thought-provoking film. The storyline may seem dry, but it is greatly enhanced with the commendable acting of the film’s lead actress, Cate Blanchett. She succinctly portrays the struggles of Tracy in her road to reforming herself and the emotional toll that entails. Also, the troubles that Tracy face can be morphed easily into those that we have to deal with in our everyday lives, as we ponder on making the right and wrong decisions, the differences between ambition and desire, and the insipid need to satisfy our own selfishness. As Tracy’s lover, Hugo Weaving has also showed the dilemma of wanting Tracy and not wishing to be a burden to her, whereas Dustin Ngyuen’s physical relationship with Tracy proved to be more than what it seems. Both men contributed in telling us how we can adversely affect those we care about with our decisions. It had huge impacts on how the film’s common story unravelled its intention of making the audience think about their own experiences.
The film’s camera work is superb, with unique camera angles that successfully captured the emotions of the actors. Also, the framing of the shots were well-deployed, with many close-ups. The lack of effects also made the film feel raw and absorbs the audience into its plot. Editing was clean and well-done. All in all, in terms of storyline, acting and camera work, Little Fish is a great film deserving of its awards and credits.
Written by: Jasmine Goh
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