Cutter Hodierne's short film Fishing Without Nets backs in more contemplative themes and ideas than most feature-length films do with the time, resources, and capabilities they bear. Despite its short runtime working against it, this is a film about choices and hopelessness; hopelessness that is only alleviated, or at the very least briefly remedied by danger and deception from a vicious group of people that are doing wrong in an attempt to live right. This is the kind of material that begs a feature film, but, as all great ideas, it had to start somewhere.
The short focuses on a group of Somalian individuals, some relishing in their ability to be pirates and go out on treacherous waters every day in hopes to hijack a ship filled with goods, and others cruelly indecisive about whether or not to join the pirates and their missions. One character in the film has a bold realization, stating that the Somalian pirates have all the money in the country, and if one doesn't hop on board with their idea of violence and danger in the pursuit of a viable living, then they, in addition to their family, are stuck on the outskirts of all the wealth.
It's a tricky situation and Hodierne doesn't sugarcoat it, bouncing back between the perspective of the pirates and other Somalian civilians who have yet to make potentially the biggest and most impacting decision of their lives. Hodierne's tonal and perspective shifts, however, pose a jarring inconsistency in the short's focus, which only makes one realize that this is material ripe for a feature-length film (into which it was later developed in 2014). Its occasionally choppy and dodgy focus points only show that this is material that is already bursting at its confines with possibilities, and we get the feel that Hodierne cannot wait to finish shooting, editing, and distributing this to get started on the bigger opportunities.
However, for what we have to go off of, Fishing Without Nets is a crisply shot and nicely made short, suspenseful at times, eerily peaceful at others, and investing almost the entire way through. It's also a short that poses thoughtful points about a country that inspire negative or pessimistic thoughts from nearly anyone who hears the name of the land. Here's a short that, in an non-judgmental way, poses questions and gets audiences to actively think about something we probably don't put much thought to. In that respect, it caters to one of the most fundamental features of cinema.
Directed by: Cutter Hodierne.
