Review: Fish Tank
By Armina Dinescu
Monday 19th October 2009
Monday 19th October 2009
I was compelled to investigate Andrea Arnold’s latest endeavour, Fish Tank (2009) solely because it was recommended with significant credentials as the British winner of Prix du Jury at this year's Cannes Film Festival. Not previously familiar with the director or cast (with the exception of Hunger’s enthralling Michael Fassbender), I didn’t know quite what to expect, based on the film’s Lifetime Channel-like tagline: Everything changes for 15-year-old old Mia when her mum brings home a new boyfriend. “Oh, dear”, I thought to myself, “another pretentious coming-of-age story”.
As for its storyline, Fish Tank was everything I’d anticipated; Mia (newcomer Katie Jarvis) is an unusually unruly teenager, who has problems connecting with the people around her, but who is also, in many respects, the product of her environment. Her mother is clearly having difficulties letting go of her golden years, while her younger sister is desperately seeking her family’s attention and love by means of swearwords and cigarettes. The rest of the plot should come as no surprise when Connor (Fassbender) is introduced, wearing nothing but charming grins and low-rise jeans, as mother’s mysterious new boyfriend.
The appeal of this film, then, isn’t in the originality of its story. Quite the contrary: without spoiling it for anyone, I found the last quarter somewhat lacking and the hopeful ending disappointingly reminiscent of classic Hollywood dénouements.
The beauty of this project stems mainly from the love-invested filmmaking and the obvious dedication the director had for her subject. Fish Tank, for the most part, is a visually thrilling experience: Mia is sometimes bathed in warm halo-lighting after ecstatic solitary dance sessions; at others the protagonist is juxtaposed with the quietly evocative images of a dying white horse or a fish thrown out of water.
Arnold has described her creative processes as starting from a single image. In the case of Fish Tank the claustrophobic, slum-like world of council estates, portrayed in sharp, unforgiving focus is teeming with explosive life. When the camera lingers self-indulgently on a glance or touch, and you realise you’ve been holding your breath just like Mia, Mia who is every uncertain step, moaning tree or trapped bird along the way, and none of these, by the end of the film, you find yourself unable to look away from the trainwreck-in-progress that is her story (the most representative scene that comes to mind is her dance for Connor, set to Womack’s California Dreaming, in the half-light of not-quite-there, when two people can pretend to be someone else). Fish Tank promises to engage and satisfy the viewer who, for a bit over two hours, surrenders emotionally to this fragile painting.
Rating: Four Stars
As for its storyline, Fish Tank was everything I’d anticipated; Mia (newcomer Katie Jarvis) is an unusually unruly teenager, who has problems connecting with the people around her, but who is also, in many respects, the product of her environment. Her mother is clearly having difficulties letting go of her golden years, while her younger sister is desperately seeking her family’s attention and love by means of swearwords and cigarettes. The rest of the plot should come as no surprise when Connor (Fassbender) is introduced, wearing nothing but charming grins and low-rise jeans, as mother’s mysterious new boyfriend.
The appeal of this film, then, isn’t in the originality of its story. Quite the contrary: without spoiling it for anyone, I found the last quarter somewhat lacking and the hopeful ending disappointingly reminiscent of classic Hollywood dénouements.
The beauty of this project stems mainly from the love-invested filmmaking and the obvious dedication the director had for her subject. Fish Tank, for the most part, is a visually thrilling experience: Mia is sometimes bathed in warm halo-lighting after ecstatic solitary dance sessions; at others the protagonist is juxtaposed with the quietly evocative images of a dying white horse or a fish thrown out of water.
Arnold has described her creative processes as starting from a single image. In the case of Fish Tank the claustrophobic, slum-like world of council estates, portrayed in sharp, unforgiving focus is teeming with explosive life. When the camera lingers self-indulgently on a glance or touch, and you realise you’ve been holding your breath just like Mia, Mia who is every uncertain step, moaning tree or trapped bird along the way, and none of these, by the end of the film, you find yourself unable to look away from the trainwreck-in-progress that is her story (the most representative scene that comes to mind is her dance for Connor, set to Womack’s California Dreaming, in the half-light of not-quite-there, when two people can pretend to be someone else). Fish Tank promises to engage and satisfy the viewer who, for a bit over two hours, surrenders emotionally to this fragile painting.
Rating: Four Stars