Naples International Film Festival 2010

Over a montage of rivers and water, Gus Orviston, the hero and narrator of the film, is born with this observation: “The surface of the earth is 30% land and 70% water. A newborn baby is composed of 70% water and 30% everything else. I guess this means that life and water are inseparable.” This observation is re-enforced by his upbringing. His parents, while deeply loyal to each other, are polar opposites: his father is a famous fly fisherman and his mother is a down-to-earth plunker of worms. Gus trys to keep peace in the family by becoming an expert at both forms of fishing. He becomes not only the Mozart of fly-fishing, he can save a small trout struggling in a polluted stream with the thread from an old coat. At twenty, he graduates, two years late, from an urban high school. He isn’t dumb, he just preferred to spend his time on a river rather than in a classroom. Finally, Gus tires of trying to maintain peace at home. He leaves to live in a simple cabin on the banks of a wild river, to fish all day and figure out the meaning of life. But he becomes increasingly lost and lonely. Floating down a foggy river one day, he snags a drowned fisherman and is swamped by his own fears of hopelessness and death. He is dried off and driven home by Titus, a misfit philosopher who becomes his friend and encourages him to start looking One day, he stumbles upon a young woman, Eddy, fishing with a hazel pole and sunbathing naked. He can barely speak and falls hopelessly in love. When Gus scrambles down to help her land a large steelhead on her hazel pole, she’s scared off and runs away. Titus decides Gus needs to fish for happiness elsewhere and brings him back to the city. There, he offers him consolation through a combination of drinking, trick-shot pool and eclectic philosophy. Gus tries to find Eddy, but can’t. He visits his family, but they are preoccupied. Gus returns to his cabin and throws himself into rod making and fly tying. He meets an idiotic fishing reporter who wants to get a line on Gus's incredible angling skills. Gus convinces him to publish a message to Eddy, begging her to make contact. One night, returning from a neighbor’s party, Gus finds Eddy waiting for him at the cabin. The next days are filled with talk and fishing, and blossoming love. When Eddy has to leave, she hooks a huge salmon on a fragile line, and gives it to Gus with the request to "play the fish." Any misstep and the line will break, the fish will be lost. Gus follows the fish all night. Finally, at dawn, he lands and gently releases it--an act which foretells the film’s joyous conclusion.