Little Fish

This tale of love in the time of a pandemic sees Olivia Cooke and Jack O'Connell playing a couple who meet on a beach and fall instantly, hopelessly in love. Gooey warm times follow but, in age-old style, one of these lovers is ill-fated and comes down with a (fictional) neuroinflammatory affliction that destroys their memory. Originally slated for a 2020 release and filmed before Covid-19 upended movie schedules, the film actually benefited from the delay, as its observations about the wider effects of a devastating disease - the quack remedies, waves of disinformation and coalitions of the ignorant - are all the more impressive. Mostly, though, this is a film in love with love, and reminiscent of 2011's Perfect Sense, which starred Eva Green and Ewan McGregor as another epidemic-blighted couple. Moving at a measured pace, Little Fish is a film where not much happens narratively, but that gives full rein to Cooke and O'Connell, who operate at impressive levels of emotional intensity.