on February 12, 2010
In a rare turn of events, a cursory web search has revealed that at least one of the Oscar live-action short films is online, Luke Doolan’s Miracle Fish. The animated shorts often are online, but for various reasons the live action ones don’t make it. New Boy last year was the only one of the five that was online in advance of the ceremony to my knowledge, but thanks to Qoob, which financed the film, we get Miracle Fish on our computers.
Going in to watching the short, my excitement was high. Part of the famed Blue Tongue Film family which gave us 2008 favorite I Love Sarah Jane, and featuring 2009 Favorite alum Nash Edgerton as an executive producer, Miracle Fish has great pedigree, via its association with those audacious audience-friendly films. Sadly my high expectations lead to simply greater disappointment. Were it not for the nomination I probably would not review the film for the site. What kind of film is Miracle Fish? It is a dark 16 min film about a bullied 8 year old named Joe. It’s Joe’s birthday, but that hasn’t spared him abuse at the hands of his young classmates. Feeling a bit put upon, Joe takes a time out in the infirmary and wakes to discover that his school is completely abandoned. The reason why isn’t clear until the film’s closing scene, and until then the tension is far from gripping.
In all honesty I find little about the film to recommend. It’s slow, and its payoff isn’t particularly interesting. The scenes of bullying aren’t clever or egregious, the scenes of Joe reveling in the emptiness of his school are not joyful or revealing. Whether by accident or design, Karl Beattie who plays Joe is a bland cipher—expressing almost no emotion throughout.
Frankly everything about the film expresses a bland competence. There is a base level of craft that all Oscar noms invariably possess, evident in things like floating jib shots, and great location sound, but little style. The palate of the film is drab, the editing is non-descript. The story itself is good enough, but is not supported by interesting details. At one point Joe steps over a cheap sci-fi book about alien abduction, supposedly to instill in the audience a spirit of speculation regarding the fate of his classmates. However this detail is the only one of its kind in the movie. Thus rather than getting caught in speculation I dutifully waited for the film to inevitably provide its reasoning.
I have to assume I’m missing something given the the acclaim garnered by the film, and would love to hear alternative opinions in the comments. This is the first short film Oscar nomination for the prolific Blue Tongue Films, and maybe its last, as its directors are moving on to features. So congratulations to that crew, they have really provided a well-needed jolt into the short film world, I just wish this recognition was for a film that I could get more behind.
note: I haven’t had success playing the film in Firefox, but have gotten it to work in Safari.
[...] just wrote up an, unfortunately, negative review of Luke Doolan’s Oscar-nominated Miracle Fish, which gave me a chance to remark on the fantastic Blue-Tongue Film collective. NyTimes have gotten [...]
I have to say that I found it equally mediocre. Also its depiction of the crazed assassin at the end was rather vague and senseless. We get the impression that the filmmakers don’t know exactly what they’re saying. Your thoughts on the base level of craft in Oscar winning shorts is spot on. I just wish, as you do, that there was more than polished images in some of the Oscar nominees.
Thanks for backing up my thoughts Jason, was worried I was alone in my opinion. I remember as a kid I used to think Oscar was a big deal, and yet could barely summon any interest this year, epecially in Short Film. The academy goes for a very particular type of festival live-action short film that frankly we don’t see online too much, the longer 20-30 min film; stark and dramatic. I too would really like to see them mix it up.
I viewed Miracle Fish differently. Joe’s being bullied set up the scene for his retreat into the nurse’s office, where he “dreams” away everyone and is free to run the school without being harassed or pushed around. But the joy is hollow, as you say, because what fun is there in being totally alone? It’s the same sort of feeling as being alone in a crowd, as Joe was before. He remains turned inward. The shooter at the end seemed to represent a potential future version of Joe – someone who had been made to feel similarly, so victimized that he turned around to victimize others out of desperation and anger. Much can be made of the “dead” assessment of the miracle fish – dead to the world, numb to others, unable to overcome the isolation wrought by bullying.
I thought this was one of the stronger entries in the Oscar-nominated shorts this year because of the plotting and creation of atmospheric dread. It could have been a smarmy little thing with a sing-song moral about how wrong bullying is, but it was instead a very powerful illustration of the inner world of a child in torment. Considering the bullying cases in the news these days, this is a film that has the potential to really resonate with viewers.
hmmm…that’s interesting. Sad to say I never made the empathetic connection between Joe and the gunman, probably because the gunman was an adult and seemingly crazy, but the film does get more interesting if viewed through a Columbine, social outcast shoots up the school type frame.
I think it’s an interesting interpretation, but a bit of a stretch. I think if it had been the filmmaker’s intent to diffuse everything through a dream sequence, there would have been more cues. As it stands everything is depicted realistically, and I failed to make the connection between the boy and the older man.
No I don’t think its a dream either, but I think that making a connection between bullied boy and a propensity to snap and shoot up a building could be a point the filmmaker was trying to get across