Fish Tank Reviews

Since I kept hearing good things about this flick (it was even on the list ‘1001 movies you must see before you die’ for a couple of years), I was really eager to check it out. Eventually, even though I did like it, I can’t say I was really blown away by the whole thing. Let’s start with the good stuff. Indeed, it was a solid British social drama, reminiscent of Ken Loach’s style and it was a very striking depiction of a teenage life in a barren social environment. Also, this young actress, Katie Jarvis, was pretty impressive but, on the other hand, since she played someone so close to herself, you might wonder if she was acting at all. As usual, the always dependable Michael Fassbender, one of the best actors of his generation, was really good as well. So, it was a good flick, that’s for sure, but I was missing something though. I mean, during the first 90 minutes, there was not much going on, reflecting the fruitless and hopeless life of the main character and, then it got pretty intense in the last 30 minutes, even though it was fairly predictable. Indeed, it was pretty obvious that she would have had sex with her mother’s boyfriend, it was also pretty obvious that he was already married with kids and it was again really obvious that the dance audition was for some kind of strip-club. On top of that, the ending was not really convincing. I mean, a random guy she just met tell her he wants to go to Cardiff and, that’s it, she’s got her ticket out of this mess. Still, in spite of these flaws, it remains a pretty good British social drama and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I'm gonna be in the minority here, and part of me was close to giving this a 6/10, but as I sat down and started writing this review, I realized I couldn't do it. FISH TANK has a decent amount of virtues, but it's undone by too many problems that overshadow them, as much as I hate giving the "thumbs down" to a movie that is obviously so well-intentioned and committed to portraying a home life with so much grit and authenticity.

The first 45 minutes or so of FISH TANK are fantastic, absolutely worthy of the recognition received by the overall film at Cannes. We can tell immediately that Mia (Katie Jarvis) is a totally unruly teenager, but not in the sense that she's evil or anything. She's just very troubled, which we get to understand even better when she gets home and we see the disdain she receives from her younger sister and her mother (who looks like she must've been extremely young when she gave birth to Mia). One morning, while at her kitchen, Mia meets her mother's new boyfriend, Connor (Michael Fassbender), who is incredibly hot. He walks in casually with no shirt and his pants not quite as adjusted as they should be, thus already cluing us into the fact that there'll be sexual tension between these two later (though it comes a lot later in the film than you may expect).

The initial scenes during which we get to see Mia's struggle to cope with her mother's poor treatment of her in contrast to Connor's perhaps TOO good treatment of her are great. Unfortunately, there comes a point in which the movie seems to run out of things to say. I read that director Andrea Arnold actually won an Oscar a few years ago for directing a short film, and one suspects that FISH TANK may have been more effective as that rather than as a full-length feature film. There's an instance during the last act during which a "kidnapping" of sorts takes place, and while the sequence is well-directed and performed it's difficult to understand how this fits with the motivations of our protagonist... and it'll be even harder to understand the consequence of this event, an awkwardly-staged scene that takes place in the dark and features one character slapping another in the face. This gives one the impression that the film wasn't sure which direction to go in, and decided to go for subtlety so that viewers could make up their own interpretations, but the approach doesn't work here because we don't really have all the pieces to connect the dots.

In addition, there are two important points that the plot hinges on that are made (unfortunately) way too obvious during the early scenes. When Connor says that his tattoo is of an ex-girlfriend, and when he later says that he was talking to his mother on the phone, we know exactly what the truth is (and it's too early for the film to give us that information). Similarly, when Mia picks up an ad for "Female Dancers," we know exactly what she's getting into, oblivious as she may be, but when Mia discovers it, the movie seems to treat it as though it should also be a revelatory surprise for the audience, which it certainly isn't.

The ending of FISH TANK takes the easiest possible way out. In a matter of two minutes, it tries to award redemption to two characters, when there was little development that came before it to make us believe that this resolution was possible. To be honest, a large part of me believes the little sister's redemption. Yes, she essentially insulted Mia during the entire movie, but it's easier to attribute that to immaturity and to believe that she realized how much she loved her older sister at this point in the movie. However, the mother's redemption (considering everything we saw before the last act) needed far more than a sudden smile while dancing. I appreciate subtlety in dramas, but not when it's used to cut corners and to avoid fleshing the plot out as effectively as it should be. Credit goes to Jarvis for her strong performance, but she deserved a better film (or like I said, perhaps a shorter one).

Synopsis: Everything changes for 15yr old Mia when her mum brings home a new boyfriend.

Randomness: This film was Katie Jarvis’s first roll as an actress.

Why I Rented this: The film received quite a bit of press and one of my favorite blogs had good things to say about it. Even with all that. I was rather skeptical of the film and didn’t rush to put it at the top of my queue.


Thoughts: I am actually not sure if I have ever seen a film that captures the frustrations and conflicts of adolescence quite so well. Just when the kitten stickers are starting to fade off the walls of a child's room, a world of sexuality and hidden meaning comes crashing in. Mia rebels, acts out, and it seems that every choice she makes is foolish or counterproductive. When a male figure is introduced who can possibly treat her like the child-self, which she feels slipping away, and who also sees that she is becoming a woman, Mia seems almost destined for utter ruin and destruction. She is on the cusp of being capable of anything, something that is disturbing not only to Mia but to the viewer as well. The symbolism in this film can be a bit heavy but I think that this allows the viewer to see the world through an adolescent's eyes. These images work well with the rundown environment filled with disposable commodities and hopelessness.

Conclusion: I truly love this film and plan to watch it again even with the rather disturbing elements. Andrea Arnold did an excellent job with this film and it deserves every award and special mention that it has received. If your looking for a gritty film to counter other films about adolescent youth that feel exploitive, then this is by all means your film.

Also See: “Time Out London” review of “Fish Tank”

A cineasta britânica Andrea Arnold abriu a disputa pela Palma D’Ouro em Cannes este ano com a exibição de sua melindrosa crônica adolescente, que deixou o Festival dividindo o Prêmio do Júri com o padre vampiro de Chan-Wook Park, de “Sede de Sangue”.

“Fish Tank” é centrado na jovem Mia, crescida em um ambiente desestruturado e emocionalmente hostil, que acostumada a violência verbal, é surpreendida pelo mínimo de ternura que lhe prestam, acabando por despertar fascinação pelo namorado de sua mãe. No filme, a infiltrada desconfiança e a carência afetiva são meticulosamente analisados no plano do previsível, mas nem por isso menos denso.

Arnold, que em 2006 ganhou o prêmio do júri trazendo a aspereza da natureza vingativa em “Red Road“, e já havia conquistado uma estatueta do Oscar no ano anterior pelo curta “Wasp”, tem todo o mérito ao extrair deste “Aquário” sutilezas e desconcertos de viés orgânico da estreante Katie Jarvis, ao optar por um tratamento quase documental.