ALLAN HUNTER at the Movies

CATE BLANCHETT is frequently hailed as one of the most impressive performers of her generation. She won an Oscar last year for her extraordinary performance as Katharine Hepburn in ‘The Aviator’. Now, she has returned to her native Australia for a demanding role in the gritty, contemporary drama ‘Little Fish’.

She delivers a commanding performance as a woman struggling to escape her blighted past. Tracy Heart (Blanchett) is 32. She is a former heroin addict who focuses all her energy on staying clean. She lives with her mother in a suburb of Sydney, manages a video store and finds her only peace in daily sessions at the local swimming baths.

Now, she has a chance of buying into the video business and building a future. It seems as if everything is coming together when former boyfriend Jonny (Dustin Nguyen) walks back into her life claiming to be a changed man.

Her future is also complicated by the actions of Lionel (Hugo Weaving), a family friend and former football star battling his own drug addiction.

‘Little Fish’ is a slow, mournful saga filled with characters pretending to be something they are not. The increasingly complicated plot loses focus at it spreads to involve Tracy’s irresponsible, drug-dealing brother, Ray (Martin Henderson), and local crime boss Bradley Thompson (Sam Neill).

The thriller elements never quite gel in a satisfying manner. However, the performances keep you engrossed throughout, and Blanchett captures all the frustration of a woman frightened by the notion that her fresh start could just be another dead end.

Selected nationwide release
Director: Rowan Woods
Stars: Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving, Sam Neill, Martin Henderson, Noni Hazlehurst, Dustin Nguyen
Screenwriters: Jacquelin Perske
Certificate: 15
Running time: 114 mins
Country: Australia
Year: 2005

© Allan Hunter, 2006