Alternate Title: Goat on Fire and Smiling FishDirector: Kevin Jordan
Shot on Super 16 millimeter in just twelve days on a budget of $40,000, director Kevin Jordan’s heartfelt and winning independent film earned awards at both the Toronto International Film Festival and Milan International Film Festival and also won him the support of Martin Scorsese as well as film critic Roger Ebert who chose it for his Floating Film Festival in 2000. Although Jordan collaborated on the original story, the real stars of the film are writers Derick and Steven Martini who also play our lead characters—the brothers Tony and Chris Remi who are half Italian and half Native American. Their Native American grandmother dubbed the two Smiling Fish and Goat on Fire when they were kids to note the difference in personality between the carefree ladies man and aspiring actor Tony (Steven Martini) and the responsible, serious accountant Chris (Derick Martini). After the death of their parents, Chris has taken care of his brother in their large home and as the film opens both brothers are in bed with their respective girlfriends and facing a crisis in their relationships. Admittedly contrived, the film wins the hearts of viewers once it picks up and they begin to realize that they must change their ways when Chris befriends an elderly black retired film soundman and each brother meets Ms. Right. Cute, funny and refreshingly uplifting independent film in a sea of so many works of dysfunction and doom, Smiling Fish and Goat on Fire is one that will hopefully engage audiences for years to come on DVD.
