Fish Tank
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Harry Treadaway, Kierston Wareing, Katie Jarvis, Jason Maza
Directed by Andrea Arnold
Rating: R
Fish Tank tells the tale of a young English teenager whose life spirals out of control when her mother gets a new boyfriend who leads an ambiguous lifestyle.
Mia (Jarvis) has what could be called a somewhat 'argumentative' relationship with her mother Joanne (Wareing) and sister Sophie (Collins). The three live in commission housing in England and manage to pass the time, each with their own vices.
Mia dances and fights out her frustration, Joanne stays in a permanent state of slight intoxication, while Sophie walks in both their footsteps smoking, drinking and watching trashy British TV. This all changes when Joanne brings home a new man, Connor (Fassbender). He is all things: kind, generous, understating and absolutely ripped!
Many years Mia's senior, Connor very quickly becomes a father figure to her and as their relationship grows stronger so does the chemistry between the two.
Fish Tank is the most stunningly shot film I have seen this year. Cinematographer Robbie Ryan has a unique ability to bring a shot's backgrounds and foregrounds in and out of focus without making the scene seem confusing or irritating. He makes use of tone, colour, texture, shape, form and lines to frame central characters and send secondary ones into a beautiful blurry background.
Director Andrea Arnold has quite understandably used him in her two other main films, Red Road (2006) and Wasp (2003). To her credit though, Arnold has made magnificent use of the characters' breathing to subtly suggest shifts in relationships.
The performance from the actors in this film is nothing to bat an eyelash at either. Katie Jarvis's raw performance of a young teenage girl filled with angst is at times heartwrenching. This is surprising when you consider that she was discovered on the street when she was having a heated argument with her boyfriend.
Michael Fassbender is superb as the boyfriend/lover who has conflicting desires between his girlfriend and her daughter. And Kierston Wareing makes you believe in her performance as the mother who likes to live on the edge.
The performances, along with the best cinematography I have seen this year (possibly in my lifetime), make for an amazing English film. The one downfall to this otherwise astonishing film is that it could run a little shorter - the shots throughout it do at times get slightly repetitive.
4 out of 5
