Fish Tank (2009)
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Review #1,402 |
THE SCOOP
Director: Andrea Arnold
Cast: Katie Jarvis, Michael Fassbender, Kierston Wareing
Plot: Everything changes for 15-year-old Mia when her mum brings home a new boyfriend.
Genre: Drama
Awards: Won Jury Prize (Cannes). Won Best British Film (BAFTA).
Runtime: 123min
Rating: M18 for sexuality and strong coarse language
International Sales: ContentFilm International
IN RETROSPECT (Spoilers: NO)
“You need
sortin' out, you do.”
I really love this film, my first Andrea
Arnold, and certainly won’t be the last.
Being a huge admirer of British social realist cinema after recently
exploring the works of Ken Loach (well, who else better to start the ball
rolling?) in particular his breakthrough feature, Kes (1970), and his latest acclaimed I, Daniel Blake (2016), I come to Fish Tank with a set of expectations, and left astonished by the
skill of Arnold’s filmmaking.
Only her sophomore feature after the Cannes
Jury Prize winning debut Red Road (2006),
Fish Tank also took home the same
prize (interestingly, her latest, American
Honey (2016) also scooped the same prize in what is a hat-trick of
third-place wins), not just flying the British social realism flag sky-high,
but is in my books one of the greatest films made by a female director in the
2000s decade.
Fish Tank stars Katie Jarvis, a
non-professional actress, in a breathtaking and revelatory performance as Mia,
a teenager who harbours dreams of becoming a dancer. She leads an unfulfilling life in the housing
projects of Essex (shot on location), constantly belittled by her mother
(wasting away on welfare and finding a faux sense of self-worth in organising
alcohol-fuelled home parties), and teased by her uncouth younger sister.
There are so many vulgarities flung at each
other in this broken household that it sucks you into their hopelessness. Mia seeks solace in dance, but when she finds
her mom’s new boyfriend (played by the irresistibly charming Michael Fassbender
coming off his breakthrough work in Steve McQueen’s Hunger (2008)) in the apartment one morning, her life starts to
change in unpredictable ways.
Call it a sharp and piercing coming-of-age
movie, but while it certainly fits that bill like hand to glove, it is Fish Tank’s sensuality that gives it an
extra oomph. Arnold blends fiery
intensity with earthly caress through her cinematography and editing, capturing
the confrontational as well as the unsaid, the latter of which is best
exemplified with several sensual scenes (almost always shot in a sunset glow or
with a warm tranquil) between Fassbender and Jarvis that suggest a subtly
stimulating undertone of sexuality.
Arnold gives breathing space and unreserved
empathy to Mia as a character, exploring her vulnerabilities and fears, yet
hers is not a character of cowardly disgrace that asks of our pity, but one who
would (through the course of the film) build her inner strength, and find
within herself the capacity to determine her place in the world—out of the
metaphorical fish tank, and into the vast, uncharted (and we would like to hope,
more compassionate) waters.
Verdict: Flies the British social realism flag sky-high—this
is a remarkably piercing yet sensual work by Andrea Arnold, not to mention featuring
a breathtaking performance by Katie Jarvis.
GRADE: A
OST:
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