La Vida de los Peces

Matías Bize's 2010 film LA VIDA DE LOS PECES (The Life of Fish) takes place over a single evening at a Chilean house party. Andrés (Santiago Cabrera) is visiting Chile for the first time in 10 years, but he's due to fly back to his adopted Berlin the next day. The action of the film consists solely of Andrés wandering from room to room, catching up with people dear to him that he hasn't seen in a long time. Conversations with the friends of his youth hint at the tragedy they shared, which ultimately drove Andrés abroad, but it is Beatriz (Blanca Lewin) who ultimately lies at the centre of Andrés' youth, and their reunion after a decade leads them to a difficult choice.

For the most part, this film is intolerable melodrama. The script is unfocused (there's a bizarre scene where some pre-teens ask Andrés a series of graphic questions about what sex acts he's partaken in), and the acting lacks any subtlety. The soundtrack is the emotionally gushing pop music one associates more with late '90s teen television dramas like "Party of Five" than serious films. Now, the ending of his film is satisfying enough that I'm happy I held out and watched the whole thing, but it's bizarre that Chile thought this film worthy of submission for the Best Foreign Film category at the 2011 Academy Awards.

I had never seen a Chilean film before the 'Life of Fish' was screened during a Spanish language film festival here in Perth, Western Australia.

I do not understand how MdIndeHond could find this film boring, I was mesmerised by its slow pace, the use of silence (there was almost no soundtrack), the constraint of filming the entire action within the confines of a house, the believable characters and dialogue and the utterly compelling acting.

'Life of Fish' may appeal more to older viewers than 20-somethings. I certainly am aware of missed opportunities in my own life and could relate to Andres dilemma.

If 'Life of Fish' is typical of the quality of Chilean film making then I shall certainly make an effort to see any other Chilean films that happen to reach 'the most isolated major city in the world'.

I came to movie for curiosity and because I've heard from someone, so I came home with the movie and push the play button when I was totally comfortable to see it...so I began to hold my breath, because the movie start with no advice, and If you don't really pay attention to the dialog's you will miss a lot of the movie, because the characters say things that are so intrusive that maybe you feel like someone is questioning you, or you been played at that moment of the character dialogs. I decide to pause a little the movie I was overwhelmed for by the characters and the way they relate to each other, I was getting to much involved in the movie, so when I looked to the played time I noticed 40 minutes have passed, and I was feeling like just no more than 15 minutes have played.

Is a great movie to show you that no astonishing sceneries needed to make a good film, everything happen in the same house here and there over the place. The director do a good job on subjectives cameras, and shots where we have a shirt stories just for what he shows.

You'll have a lot of emotions with this film, Is a romantic film thats worth seeing.

A very good movie from the Director Matías Vize. Sometimes the atmosphere of the movie is brilliant, a lot of feelings inside, moments with good times of silence, when the silence says a lot of things, and sometimes nothing to say is better to know how the feelings are.

Very good actors, specially Blanca Lewin, she is brilliant to communicate a lot of things without says nothing, only with the facial things. I love the movie, and you never know how is gonna end.

During the movie is possible to see very good actors who show us that the Chileans filming industry is young but have a very good future.

If you like watching movies like "El secreto de sus ojos" or "En la cama" you ar gonna enjoy this.

Excellent movie!! Enjoy it.

a trip in middle of a world. ordinary pieces of a party. a kind of Ulises. a kind of Itaca. only Penelope is different. because the object of introspection is the possibility of past to be another future. dialogs, silence, gestures, each - level of a smoke ladder. pieces of a broken vase. or only, old seeds on the empty land. a film like a mirror. or only shadow of possibilities as drawing lines. because the return, meetings, courtesy are only cages for dead birds.slices of fiction in heart of expectations. illusions. all is an aquarium. a large aquarium. in a house, for a stranger, like self lie as only way to accept the past. a beautiful film. like a memento mori.