Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

Lucybespro It is a performances centric movie

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Taraparain Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Claudio Carvalho In Sidney, Tracey Heart (Cate Blanchet) is a thirty-two years old manager of a video shop ex-addicted in heroin and clean for four years. She is trying to raise forty thousand dollars to buy a shop for computer games on the next door of the rental and become partner of her boss, but based on her negative records, the banks deny the loan. Tracey takes care of her junkie stepfather Lionel Dawson (Hugo Weaving), unsuccessfully trying to make him quit his heroin habit. When her former boy-friend Jonny (Dustin Nguyen) returns from Vancouver, Tracey's mother Janelle (Noni Hazlehurst) fears a fall of Tracey, while she blames Jonny for the car accident where her son Ray (Martin Henderson) lost one leg. When Ray and Jonny associate to Moss (Joel Tobeck), the assistant of the retired criminal boss Bradley 'The Jockey' Thompson (Sam Neill), in drug dealing, Tracey is convinced by Jonny to join them and raise the necessary money for her business along the weekend."Little Fish" is a heavy drama, based on losers, people addicted in drugs, showing how difficult the recovery is. The lead character is a woman without perspective in life that sees the chance of a good honest business, but with the doors closed due to her past, being therefore trapped in her past. Her mother suffers in double, since her former mate addicted her daughter and her son, who lost part of one leg with Jonny. The story is original, having the characters very well developed along the narrative and with great performances. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Sob o Efeito da Água" ("Under the Effect of the Water")

pookey56 i really really wanted to like this film. i sought it out in no small part because of the wonderful Cate Blanchett, the enigmatic Hugo Weaving, and the usually amicable Sam Neill. I also admit to mostly loving Australian films; there have been so many good ones. I had to watch this film twice.here were liars, losers, drug addicts, oddly irrelevant dialogue, and lots and lots of boredom. In fairness, i was especially happy to see Hugo's work as a human being. And Cate can do no wrong as far as i'm concerned. And Mr. Neill? He looks to me like he's on medication(s), and i found him less recognizable than Hugo. His bloated appearance doesn't look like the result of over-eating to me. I often watch films more than once, but i don't enjoy re-watching one because i want to make sure i didn't miss something, or because perhaps i didn't "get it" the first time, and then finding that neither was the case. this isn't the worst film i've ever seen, but it was one of the most boring. And no, i'm not one to need car chases, gun play, lots of sex, nor non-stop action to be interested in a movie. But a screenplay helps. I didn't notice one in Little Fish. Little fish are often prey to bigger ones, but in this case, these little fish are so non descript, the bigger ones would probably swim right by them.....

Jim626 That Little Fish stretches a canvas for actors like Kate Blanchett to sketch top notch characters I have no contest. If watching actors nail roles is your idea of film then see Little Fish, but if story captures you, beware. The reviews praise the depth this film; for me it drops off the esoteric edge.Little Fish provides a metaphor for the plastic fish designed to hold soy sauce yet double as drug containers. The characters are also little fish swimming in a pool of drugs, life gone wrong, fighting life's currents in a rushing stream.Tracey, exquisitely played by Blanchett, says in the third act something to the effect, "I just want the money for my business." Don't we all. She has a job - manager of a video store - a plan - open an internet café - but cannot secure the loan because of her history. She was a drug addict from following her pusher boyfriend's lead, has a lousy credit history and the shortsighted bank will not see her vision and loan her about $40k.The characters in this film made destructive choices and now face payback or change. An ex-boyfriend played by Hugo Weaving just cannot kick his habit; you don't kick habits in your bedroom. Tracey's ex-boyfriend shows up feigning redemption yet still pushes drugs because he cannot muster strength to sell stocks after a four-year opportunity. Tracy, four years clean, struggles with the temptation to relapse - yet she wants her job money. I feel no pity. It is hard to invest in characters who refuse to invest in themselves.Reviews praise the director for making us feel the characters could be any of us; I did not buy it. Life can betray anyone, yet choices remain and when bad ones are made pity never saves. People's lives do not get complicated by drugs, people complicate their lives through bad choices. Little Fish would have captured my sympathies if it only showed a little spine.If you want to swim in a hole of sorrow, pity, and dead end; then Little Fish will hook you. If you want a positive look at pursuing a dream, see My Date with Drew.

averyayoung Out of the quiet but ripe landscape of Australian Cinema comes a sleeper that film buffs of the character driven and powerfully acted in taste wait for. Artful, cinematic, and thoughtful; this film hums with moments of genius. Though not perfect, Little Fish is the story of people on the outside, living just underneath their dreams. Serious and rough around the edges this is not a film for those who are not comfortable with a darker film with a current of realism running through, but worth the slower moments that must fill any solid drama as it carries along. A perfect film for the academic and armchair cineaste, or someone looking for a bit of cinema with some harsh realism and thought out characters.