My last movie review was for Rubber, which seemed a little thin despite some tearing down of the fourth wall by staring-into-the-camera goofiness. Then I saw I’m Reed Fish. There’s someone looking into the camera there too. There’s a strange self-consciousness going on. And that oddly makes the film ring truer and more real.
There is so much depth of detail in this movie. They just keep throwing it on, shovelful after shovelful. It’s like some great big Russian novel. But it’s not. You won’t even notice all these details falling onto you. You won’t brush your shoulders off once. 20 minutes into it, I was all “Wow I’m only 20 minutes into it, and there’s been all this!” 70 minutes into it, I was like “Wow, there’s 20 minutes left. And think how dense the first 20 minutes were…”
This is a very realistic comedy about a guy trying to figure out what to do with his life. It’s not over-the-top or bizarre or anything. His life is a little bit easier than mine ever was. It’s also a little bit harder.
I’m Reed Fish has it’s heart in the right place. You probably won’t learn the lesson that Reed learns, but you’ll know a lot more about zorses than you ever thought you would.
I didn’t see any acting going on. The actors were the characters. And so were the characters. It’s an OK affectation that forces the audience to at least do their own share of the work. I liked it because it wasn’t a cliche. It will be now, though.
Another reason I like the movie, Reed looks more like his father every day. I can identify with that. And also he really knows how to be ashamed of himself.
