The Past Is Right Here.

I truly believe that anyone who knows anything about Australian film from the first decade of this here century we find ourselves in will recognise that line instantly. Somehow, despite the fact that it underperformed at the box office everywhere, Little Fish seems to have caught on in a much bigger way than one might have imagined. I recall at the time not overly loving the film, but it has grown in my esteem over the years between my initial viewing (more than likely viewings, due to my employment in 2005...) and my recent one as part of this project.

The film received a lot of attention at the time as it was the first local appearance of our Cate (Blanchett) since her turn in Oscar And Lucinda in 1997, since which she had been nominated for Oscars and become a hugely recognisable international name. Plus, it was the first film in seven years from Rowan Woods, who had greatly impressed with his debut The Boys. Plus, it was written by Jacquelin Perske, who just the year before had co-created the phenomenal television series Love My Way. It also brought together a tremendous cast besides Blanchett, including the very highly regarded (and suddenly bankable, thanks to The Matrix, The Lord Of The Rings and V For Vendetta) Hugo Weaving, Sam Neill, Martin Henderson, who had been missing for a long time, and Noni Hazlehurst, who turned in a furious performance that shocked many young Australians who had only ever know her from Play School and her television show with ex-husband John Jarratt Better Homes And Gardens.


Tracy (Blanchett) is a recovering junkie, living at home with her mother Janelle (Hazlehurst) and amputee brother Ray (Henderson). She is a manager at a video store, trying to get her life together and working on securing a loan to go into partnership with the owner of the video store in order that they can expand into internet and online gaming next door. Tracy is also emotionally supporting Lionel (Weaving), the gay junkie ex of Janelle, who is contemplating going clean as he is cut off by his lover and dealer Brad (Neill.) Suddenly, Tracy's ex Jonny (Dustin Nguyen) appears, back from Vancouver, sporting a flashy suit. Jonny was a big reason Tracy was doing drugs, and is held responsible by Janelle for the accident that cost Ray part of his leg, but Tracy's love dies hard.


Ray and Jonny get a deal together to make some fast cash, and when Tracy's loan application falls through, despite the fact that she has told both her business partner and her mother that everything is going to be fine, she becomes a part of it. But when everything falls apart she manages to dig deep inside herself and find the courage and belief in herself that has always been there but muddied by her dependence on heroin to bring about happiness. (Ok, that sounds like a really cheesy ending, but it's totally not. I swear.)


The more I think about and remember the film, the more impressed I am with it. I wasn't overly impressed with Nguyen's performance, and I thought Henderson was merely fine, but otherwise the performances were stupendous across the board. Blanchett pulled off her usual incredible thing, but with a depth of character she is often not given. Weaving was ridiculously, painfully good, playing the pathetic junkie with a talent we all knew he had (he has turned in riveting performances before) but still so violent in its intensity as to be dumbfounding. Hazlehurst gives us probably her greatest ever performance (though I'm very, very light on her earlier work - it was better than her equally lauded performance in Candy the following year, if only because the material she had to work with here was better, I think.)


Woods guides them all perfectly, giving a beautiful setting for them to truly excercise Perske's terrific script. Cut wonderfully by Alexandre de Franceschi and John Scott, with Sam Petty's always flawless sound and Nathan Larson's original music that used to kind of irritate me (possibly due to overexposure) but has grown on me a lot to the point where hearing strains of his theme now can cause a deep emotional reaction. And dammit, hearing either the kids or Sarah Blasko singing that cover of Flame Trees can see me in rivers of tears in a second. That scene (anyone who's seen it knows that scene) is mindblowing.


Look, it's not a perfect film. Not in any way. But I think it has improved with age. I think at the time, also, in such a dire time for Australian film, it probably wasn't the right film to be making. Everyone was depressed enough as it was, and throwing a depressing-as-fuck film into the mix was never going to pull us out of it. If it came out this year I think it would have performed somewhat better, though maybe I'm just deluding myself. Little Fish is, however, a good film, even a very good film. If only for the epic performances within it is worth watching. If for noting else than to feel how amazing Cold Chisel covers can be. 4 stars.

Unusual Circumstances.

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button was polarising. I was really, really looking forward to it, and then I kept hearing fairly mediocre things about it, which dropped it down a little on my 'to see' list to the point where I never actually got around to it. For shame.


Button is a terrific film. Director David Fincher (who is responsible for many films I love, including Fight Club and Seven)(hold on - they're all Brad Pitt movies. I swear, that's not the only reason I like these films) pulls out a long (yes, another long one - 166 mins) adaptation of an F. Scott Fitzgerald short story, and makes it work very, very well. Brad Pitt as the eponymous Benjamin and Cate Blanchett as his long-term love interest Daisy lead a terrific cast, notably Taraji P. Henson in her Oscar-nominated role as Benjamin's adopted mother.

The premise is that Benjamin Button is born old and ages backwards - as his years progress, his body goes in the opposite direction. The effects and make up are phenomenal. He is always obviously Brad Pitt, but he looks like a short old man, or like a teenager again, and it all looks real. His performance is very solid, though it is not at all flashy. Benjamin seems to always be slightly bemused by the world around him and the lot that he has drawn, and his innocence and naivety serve the story well. By contrast, Blanchett's Daisy is very high strung, very high maintenance, very full on, and it is a great contrast. She lives a wild life as an internationally acclaimed ballet dancer, and enjoys the trappings that entails her: travel, men, parties, whatever she wants. When her career ends, however, the ability for her and Benjamin to be together arises, and perfectly as they both draw towards the middle of their lives, to a point where they, for once, are of roughly the same age.

I'll leave the story description there, but it is beautiful and moving. Spanning the entire life of the key characters, it is epic in scope, but it never drags. Benjamin's life is eventful, yes, but never unbelievably. Never inconceivably. It is entirely feasible that everything that happens to him (outside of the medical angle) could happen to him, but it is just enough to keep the film going. Pitt and Blanchett are perfect as the two leads, and the supports, while generally minor, are strong. The film looks amazing, design and effects-wise, and Fincher blends everything together to give us a stunning piece of cinema.

I don't know which I think should have won, this film or Slumdog Millionaire, at last year's Oscar ceremony. I thoroughly enjoyed them both, in very different ways. I do think the actors lost out to more deserving performances (though why Blanchett didn't feature in the nominations is a mystery, but I think everytime she steps on screen she should be gifted awards), but I don't really understand why the film was so divisive. It was a remarkable film in every way. 5 stars.

Together We Will Live Forever.

Darren Aronofsky had a bit of a bad time with his third film, The Fountain. Initially, he had a US$75mil budget and Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett in the lead roles, but when Pitt left the project shortly before principal photography was due to begin, the project was scrapped for a couple of years. US$20mil or so had already been spent creating sets and props in Queensland, and many of these were auctioned off. The film was then reimagined with less than half the budget and with Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz taking on the leads.

The films takes place over a thousand years, ultimately about the search for eternal life, specifically the Tree of Life from the bible, hidden away after Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden. Tom Creo (Jackman) occurs in three different eras - back in the days of the Spanish Inquisition, sent on a search for the tree at the behest of the Queen (chronogically, Weisz's first character also); in 2005, part of a research team to try and slow the development of brain tumours (with Weisz as his wife); and far in the future, as the protector of the tree of life, drifting through space to a dying star in order to save it.

Weisz as Issi, Tom's wife in the 2005 time period, has a brain tumour also, which is untreatable. This storyline is the primary narrative force, with Tom ignoring other progresses in his work (such as neurological regression, effectively reversing the aging process) in a desperate attempt to find a cure for his wife. It is a race against time, intercut with segments from the initial quest for the tree and the subsequent attempt to take it to the stars. However, the search for eternal life, as offered by the tree, is shown to be somewhat fruitless. Not in the sense that the tree doesn't hold those powers, but that in struggling so hard to discover these secrets, Tom actually misses so much of the life that he is meant to be living - pointed out abstractly by his superior at the research facility Dr Lillian Guzetti (Ellen Burstyn - how I love her.) He misses the opportunity to spend time with his dying wife (who is, incidentally, writing the story of the search for the tree and its raising to the heavens) because he is so focused on trying to cure her, and to make her live forever. Indeed, the Mayan/Spanish section of the story has a similar ending - the quest for eternal life in fact brings quite the opposite for so many.

It is a very, very bold undertaking from Aronofsky. Coming off Pi and Requiem for a Dream, he did away with so many elements that had hitherto defined him (though not quite managing to do away with the repeated short cuts and closeups! Not quite!) as he attempted to reimagine the sci-fi genre. It only succeeded to a limited degree, though definite props for the scope, vision and idea behind it.

Jackman... I just think he looks too young for a film where he has to carry emotion through centuries. His face doesn't have the ability to look wizened or craggy. At the end, he still looks young and innocent, and I felt like he should have been so, so much more tired. He does put in a valiant effort, though I think Pitt would have suited it better. Weisz (who I honestly think looks alternately like Kate Winslet and Keira Knightley in everything I see her in) does a very good job as the wife battling cancer who is resigned and content with her fate to die, and channels Natalie Portman in the Star Wars prequels (vomit) as the Spanish queen. The supporting cast is solid (did I mention that Ellen Burstyn is in it? And how I love her? I did? Well, you can't bring her up too often), the film does look a treat (though some of the Mayan sets seem a little false...) and Clint Mansell does another astonishing job with the score. It just didn't quite gel the way I think it was aiming. It's not a write-off, not by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm going to give it 3 stars.