Film is one of the most powerful forms of media that we have in our society. It can be used to challenge our assumptions, perceptions and open our minds to the voices of others. It is important, therefore, that we understand film and the messages they often express.
When Joe fails to shoot, he becomes his own worst
enemy. With the eerie silence that falls upon this film, only
to be filled by the tick-tocking of Gordon-Levitt’s pocket watch, Looper is a futuristic Sci-Fi that is
sure to thrill and leave you stunned, wanting to watch more. You can read my review in full below: http://www.tqsmagazine.co.uk/looper-film-review-when-joe-fails-to-shoot-he-becomes-his-own-worst-enemy/
From director, Lasse Hallström, and the writer of The Full Monty, Simon Beaufoy, based on
the best-selling novel by Paul Torday, comes a fishy tale about much more than
just salmon fishing.
Ewan McGregor stars in this
British romantic comedy drama, alongside Emily Blunt and Kristen Scott Thomas,
as a Scottish Ichthyologist, Dr. Alfred Jones, who is asked to work on a
project which will bring salmon to the river Yemen. A visionary Sheikh (Amr
Waked) finances this multimillion pound project, as he believes that fishing
brings people together and could be the answer to uniting people and countries
worldwide. Alfred and Harriett (Emily Blunt), the Sheikh’s representative, must
embark upon this upstream struggle to prove that the theoretically possible is,
in fact, realistically possible.
However, the over-enthusiastic Press Secretary (Kristen Scott Thomas),
from the Prime Minister’s office, is chasing at their heels as she sees this
project as a media opportunity to spread some ‘good will’ that will act as a
distraction from the bombings in Afghanistan. In this funny light-hearted
comedy anything seems possible as long as you have a bit of faith.
This film, however, appears to
question more than just the possibility of fishing in Yemen. The Press
Secretary, Patricia Maxwell and the particularly vain Prime Minister allow the
film to inadvertently criticise Government and their handling of the press, as
they only seem to care about image, rather than what is right for the
individual people. Humour soon becomes a tool for subverting authority in this film.
The media is represented as Maxwell presents herself; cold-hearted,
manipulative, overzealous and intrusive. The project for Maxwell becomes all
about the press coverage, rather than the intentions of the Sheikh. It is, therefore,
the character of Maxwell and the outrageous ways in which she deals with
situations that brings out the humour.
The character of Maxwell is contrasted
by the Sheikh who believes fishermen to be the most faithful, because they do
not dwell on their fellow fisherman’s backgrounds or ethnicities, but share
common ground, the fish. The Sheikh, throughout the film, promotes this idea of
multiculturalism through fishing. However, this idea, when put into reality, is
an upstream struggle, but if one can have a bit of faith, like the fishermen
who wait for hours for a bite, and if one is willing to swim against the
current, like Dr. Jones, and open one’s mind then it is possible to turn the theoretically
possible into the realistically possible, if the right approach is taken.
This philosophically uplifting
film, where fish become metaphors for humans, who are in need, now and again,
to swim upstream rather than downstream, is a delight to watch. Salmon Fishing
is a film about people, rather than fish, however, it does not dwell on these
heavy issues that it presents, but focuses on the humour that comes from such a
preposterous project and, therefore, is a light-hearted and entertaining
romantic comedy drama to watch. It is a film about making the ever impossible
possible.
