Direction: Chad Hartigan
Country: USA / Canada
Four years after the positive comedy/drama Morris From America, director Chad Hartigan turns his gaze toward a pandemic-related romantic drama that is neither persuasive nor involving. Written by the Romanian-born Mattson Tomlin from a short story by Aja Gabel, Little Fish stars Olivia Cooke and Jack O’Connell in the central roles. They are a young couple facing a memory-loss virus that has been affecting lives with damaging consequences.
When Emma (Cooke), a vet, realizes that her beloved photographer husband, Jude (O’Connell), is revealing amnesiac symptoms, she enrolls him in a clinical trial in a desperate attempt to have his full memory back. Their friends, Ben (Raúl Castillo) and Sam (Soko), are going through similar difficulties, but aggravated by uncontrolled episodes of violence.
The idea behind this depressing story is indeed promising, bolstered by undeniable connotations with the present times, but its materialization on the screen is not devoid of flaws and weaknesses. Thinly layered with recollections of the past, the story lingers on a loopy pathos that totally melts into a puddle of uncertainty and melancholy rather than groping for meaning. With that said, it passes the sensation that the only concern is the past, not the present or the future.
The tension created out of an underlying fear is deeply suggestive but not enough to spare us from a frustrating cinematic experience in the end.
