Most fishing adventure films follow a bunch of burly guys travelling to exotic locales to find huge fish and then film whatever happens, including the many obligatory hijinks which happen along the way. Gin Clear are a different kettle of fish, however, striving for a loftier goal. Not content merely with footage of fellas fishing, Nick Reygaert and his team aim to capture the precise moment of the catch; that moment in time where the fish opens it's craw and latches onto it's quarry, in lavish high definition slo-mo detail and filling the frame too, if you please. In other words, Gin Clear are not about capturing guys with their rod in their hands, they're about capturing the money shot, and that they do.

Predator is a case in point. If intricately detailed shots of trout lurching out of the water to catch damsels on the wing is your bag, then Predator is your candy. The time expended to capture some of these shots must be considerable indeed given that many of them are the product of being in the right place at the right time. Which insect drifting on the surface film do you follow exactly? It is surely a lucky dip and a problem which can only be solved with large investments of time and patience. Clearly Reygaert and crew have these qualities in abundance.

Like the previous Hatch and the forthcoming Leviathon, Predator is a hybrid of fishing adventure and nature programme. From catching eto in Japan to snagging samson fish off the West Australian coast to the ever-reliable brown trout in New Zealand, Predator seeks out interesting locations across the globe to catch brutes on fly. But the film is also informative, educating us on the behaviour and habitat of the targeted species as well as the social culture of the various locales. Gin Clear admirably recognises that there's more to fishing than yanking Pisces out of the pond; there's so much more for us to learn.

In terms of information, production values and capturing the seductive spirit of flyfishing, Predator is hard to beat. The quality of a fishing film is in the minutiae and Predator, as with all Gin Clear films to date, has this in spades.

4 Joans and a half Krieger

Reviewed by Stu Jamieson
DATE

Stu Jamieson is a movie writer and redundant cinema projectionist who has written many more reviews than he has caught fish. His countless hours casting to hula hoops on his front lawn aims to redress this imbalance.