I'm Reed Fish

"Very pretty cinematography"... <i>I'm Reed Fish</i>.

If you're a fan of whimsy, soft autumnal lighting, quirky (in most cases, positively bizarre) characters and freespirited singer-songwriters, this gentle indie flick will rock your studenty world. A semi-autobiographical version of a few weeks in the life of the writer Reed Fish (yes, he's a real person), the film is set in Southern California. Think Northern Exposure meets Smallville. The plot's thinness is obscured by the thick layers of syrupy warmth, such as the radiantly pretty Schuyler Fisk's revelatory (or cloying) performance at talent night. Reed Fish (Jay Baruchel) is the 23-year-old voice of local radio in the tiny community of Mud Meadows, a position he inherited from his late father. His audience loves, trusts and relies upon him. But weeks before his marriage to his childhood sweetheart, Kate (Alexis Bledel) - whose mother died along with Fish's parents in a car crash - Jill (Fisk) sweeps back into town and reignites his schoolboy crush. Baruchel falls short in the hipster stakes - he's clearly meant to exude the geeky cool of a young John Cusack, which would better explain his success with the ladies - and his female co-stars are equally one-dimensional, but the background cast of weird and wonderful small-town characters, as well as the very pretty cinematography, add a certain charm, making this a pleasant enough film for whiling away an evening at home.
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