Media Literacy Topic #2

Recently I watched an old move from 2001 (Well that's old to me okay...) entitled "Fish in a Barrel" starring Jeremy Renner, Stephen Ingle, Rene M. Rigal, Kent Dilian and Arly Jover. The movie is about four friends who rob a bank and  steal four million dollars worth of diamonds. In the process of their escape, Remmy, Renner's character,  shoots a police officer. Paranoid that they'll be arrested for robbery and murder, they lock themselves in their loft with the diamonds. A series of events leads them to battle it out in their loft with a woman named Nina, played by Jover, and one of the roommates' older brother, who is a cop.

In one scene towards the end, Remmy and Nina are having a stand-off. After an exchange of extremely colorful and hilarious insults, Remmy states that he know's he won't make it out alive. As promised, Nina shoots him dead on the spot. In those few ten seconds my emotions went from amused to devastated. Remmy had become my favorite character, and now Nina had become my mortal enemy.

The feel of the movie was very "B-Side". The sound was of poor quality and the camera work looked a bit unsteady at times but that was intentional. The colors were muted and dusty to portray the "dirty" life they led. The main set, their loft in the city, was messy, none of the furniture matched. One of their armchairs had a hole in the arm where nearly fifty cigarette butts were stuffed. In addition there was a fish on the couch. Possibly a pillow or decoration, Hopefully not a real one. (But I wouldn't doubt it.) The movie was low budget and fast paced. The acting was good overall, at times over the top but it fit the feeling of the film perfectly.

Based on their dialogue I could tell the characters had all been friends for a long time. Casper had always been the responsible older one, with a cop for a brother, Remmy was the annoying one that got them in trouble, Eddie was the joker and Sammy was the prude that was always scared they would get into trouble. They all sort of hated each other, save for Eddy and Remmy who bonded over their favorite pastime, pissing Sammy off.

The music wasn't too nondescript but it fit the scenes. Suspenseful moments had fast paced music or a slowly rising crescendo. Less suspenseful moments were either without music or had comical tones playing in the background.

I loved the movie personally and have watched it five times since. Though it was low budget and not very long it was still amazing.

Trailer: