Gone Fishing

Directed by Jonathan Hawes

2021

One Door Productions

From One Door Productions comes Gone Fishing, a new short film from writer & director Jonathan Hawes, his first since 2020's Hairball.

Local journalist Leo (Thomas Loone) is assigned to meet with a local fisherman and survivalist Bernard (Richard Teasdale), needless to say the two men are total opposites and share a dislike with each other from the off.

Leo berates his editor Simon (Michael Walters) for giving him such an uneventful and in his eyes a dull assignment.

What is interesting early on is Leo has an occupational duty to be there and put up with the awkward, tense and uncomfortable surroundings, what the audience doesn't understand just yet is what is Bernard's motive for being there?

Barbed comments are exchanged between the two on the first night, Leo tries to light a fire with his cigarette lighter which is swiftly thrown in the river by Bernard opting for a more traditional method. Corned Beef is offered and rejected, as Leo says he wouldn't want to eat it as “we're not fighting the Nazi's any more”.

Hawes' screenplay shows many light moments throughout the film, the humorous comments appearing more in the first half of the film.

The tone of the film shifts when Leo collapses during a morning walk before being discovered by an irritated Bernard who cannot believe this man from the city cannot hack 24 hours in the wild.

As Leo recovers a subtle, mutual understanding is shared between the two. Bernard shows some compassion towards the fatigued Leo whilst he displays a muted show of gratitude for helping him.

The change in tone I mentioned before comes as Leo is left to recover when Bernard ventures out to catch fish for supper, bored and restless he starts snooping around the tent until he comes across something sinister he shouldn't have seen.

Gone Fishing takes a darker, emotional turn and it is a testament to Hawes' directorial ability that he is able to pull it off seamlessly. All to often when a film changes tone it is unsuccessful or the pacing goes haywire but that isn't the case here.

After watching his previous efforts Forbidden Fruit and On the Wagon, it is clear Hawes is building a distinct body of work, often dealing with the same themes of trauma and its aftermath.

The film suffers somewhat though when the character Simon is introduced, he's an unlikeable character and is written to have that effect however his appearance and attitude seem dated and contrived and is further proven with his cliché gold chain and hip flask. A contrast to the films realistic and subtle beginnings.

This is a minor grumble however and doesn't detract from the films quality, especially when every frame is strikingly captured by cinematographer Mark Murphy and the score is that diverse and interesting by composer David Rubenstein.

Gone Fishing starts and ends on high note, with satisfying closure for a conclusion but enough ambiguity for the audience to play with whilst the credits roll.

This is another great short film from One Door Productions and Jonathan Hawes about media responsibility, the dangers of trial by media and last but not least a relationship between two opposites.

Guy Russell

Twitter @BudGuyer