Casting for Luck: A weirdly hypnotic fishing trip

Is it worth the watch?

Honestly, it depends entirely on your patience for watching people stand in water. If you find the sound of a reel spinning and the sight of a fly hitting a lake surface relaxing, you’ll love it. If you need a narrative arc or even a human being you can actually relate to, you’re going to be bored out of your mind within ten minutes.

This isn't a movie you watch for the acting. It’s a movie you put on when you want to zone out and pretend you're on a vacation you can't afford.

The rhythm of the reel

There’s this strange, repetitive beauty to the whole thing. It doesn't try to be like The Dawn Patrol where everything is high stakes and loud. Instead, it just loops the same basic motion of casting and reeling. It’s almost trance-like.

The cinematography is surprisingly sharp for its age. You catch these tiny details—the glint of the sun on a wet line, the way a boat cuts through the water. It’s far more observant than The Young Count, which felt like it was rushing to get somewhere.

• The sound of the water is actually better than the music.
• Some of the shots in the middle section go on for a long time.
• The local fishermen look like they’re wondering why a camera is stuck in their faces.

Odd little moments

There's a specific shot in the second act where a guy misses a catch and just stares at the horizon for way too long. It felt like watching a friend get frustrated on a Saturday morning. You don't get that kind of accidental honesty in a blockbuster like Murder in the Fleet.

It’s not perfect. Sometimes the editing feels like a slideshow that someone forgot to put a transition on. *Clunk.* Next scene. *Clunk.* Next scene.

It’s definitely a bit thin. You could probably cut twenty minutes out and not lose anything. But there’s something nice about a film that doesn't feel the need to explain itself. It just shows you a guy with a net, and then you’re in a different country, and that’s that. 🐟

It’s not trying to win an Oscar. It’s just trying to show you a fish. Sometimes that’s enough, I guess.