Little Fish (2005)

Set in the Little Saigon district outside of Sydney, a woman (Blanchett) trying to escape her past becomes embroiled in a drug deal.

Director:

Rowan Woods

Writer:

Jacquelin Perske

Stars:

Cate Blanchett, Sam Neill, Hugo Weaving

12 wins & 22 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Cate Blanchett	...	Tracy
Sam Neill	...	The Jockey
Hugo Weaving	...	Lionel
Martin Henderson	...	Ray
Noni Hazlehurst	...	Janelle
Dustin Nguyen	...	Jonny
Joel Tobeck	...	Moss
Lisa McCune	...	Laura
Susie Porter	...	Jenny
Nina Liu	...	Mai
Linda Cropper	...	Denise
Daniela Farinacci	...	Donna
Ferdinand Hoang	...	Khiem
Anh Do	...	Tran
Jason Chong	...	Mingh

Storyline

In Sydney, Tracey Heart 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, unsuccessfully trying to make him quit his heroin habit. When her former boy-friend Jonny returns from Vancouver, Tracey's mother Janelle fears a fall of Tracey, while she blames Jonny for the car accident where her son Ray lost one leg. When Ray and Jonny associate to Moss, the assistant of the retired criminal boss Bradley 'The Jockey' Thompson, in drug dealing, Tracey is convinced by Jonny to join them and raise the necessary money for her business along the weekend.

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Plot Keywords:

heroin | drugs | junkie | drug dealing | bank | 

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Taglines:

The past is right here

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Romance | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language, drug content and brief sexuality

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Australia

Language:

Vietnamese English

Release Date:

8 September 2005 (Australia)

Also Known As:

Dag katan

Filming Locations:

Bankstown, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

£51,233 (UK) (21 July 2006)

Gross:

£112,829 (UK) (28 July 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Porchlight Films, Australian Film Finance Corporation (AFFC), Mullis Capital Independent

Technical Specs

Runtime:

114 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

A rare glimpse of Hugo Weaving driving a car; even if it is just backing it out of a driveway. He has never owned a driver's license because of his epilepsy. You can see it was him because of his reflection in the side mirror.

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Quotes

Janelle: She's doing great. She opening her own shop.
Tracy Heart: Mum. I going into partnership with Min who I work for at the video shop. they're expanding into internet online gaming.

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Connections

Features Farscape (1999)

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Soundtracks

"A Place in the Sun"
Written by Dave Faulkner
Performed by Hoodoo Gurus (as The Hoodoo Gurus)
Courtesy of EMI Music Australia
Published by Sony/ATV Music Publishing Australia

User Reviews

Just One Last Trade Before Moving To A Better Life

As Cate Blanchett said herself, 'Little Fish' is about the people between the middle class and lower class, those who are struggling with their daily lives and are largely ignored. Perske's screenplay is good but it could have been a little tighter as the film does drag at some portions. Woods is good and he brings a certain realness (with the help of the actors) in portraying the complex relationships between the characters. All the main characters, most of them 'recovered' addicts and some returning addicts, try to seek a better life but there is just 'one last trade' that would 'get them to their goals'. Dustin Nguyen (in spite of an uneven accent), Martin Hendersen, Sam Neill and Hugo Weaving are all adequate in their parts and Noni Hazelhurst is wonderful. However, 'Little Fish' belongs to Cate Blanchett. One can see a Blanchett that's completely different from her Hollywood films (then again she's always different in each of her movies). A difficult part required an immensely talented actress and she just makes the task look easy. There's a frightening scene where Cate's Tracy is tempted to 'return' but then a magical scene follows where she walks into a choir rehearsal of a group of singing Vietnamese children and she is confused, conflicted and eventually comforted. This one profound scene was so brilliantly executed with the long shot camera, the innocent voices of the children as they sing the powerful words, and Cate asking repeatedly where the bathroom is while being confused, that the strength of it stays in mind long after the end credits have rolled.