Fish Tank

Movie summary of Fish Tank by Michael The Moviegoer.

FISH TANK = ***1/2

“A Great Catch”

“Fish Tank” is one of the best pieces of modern British cinema I have seen in a very long time. Only a few months ago we were all hailing Carey Mulligan as the next great actress from England (Mulligan was just nominated for the Best Actress Oscar for “An Education”). Now, along comes Katie Jarvis and her phenomenal performance as a lonely troubled teen named Mia desperately looking for a way out of her life in a bleak public housing dead-end neighborhood.

But unlike Mulligan, Jarvis is not a trained actor. She was discovered by director Andrea Arnold on a train platform in the same area where this film’s story is set and filmmed. Perhaps this is why “Fish Tank” has a sense of raw realism not usually experienced while watching a movie. We are immediately caught up in Mia’s pain, loneliness and isolation. Like her, we find ourselves searching for a way out only to end up sharing her pessimistic attitude that help is nowhere to be found.

I’ve read many reviews of this film that describe Mia as a girl who is looking for trouble. But the way I interpret it is that trouble comes looking for her. Mia dreams of auditioning as a hip-hop dancer as if that will change her life. In that sense, Mia is oddly reminiscent of Jennifer Beals’ character in 1983’s “Flashdance”. But Mia gets no support from her disapproving mom, and her mom’s boyfriend Connor, played by Michael Fassbender, develops a dangerous crush on Mia.

In a coming-of-age moment for Mia, after spying on Conner and her mom having sex, Mia falls into Connor’s seductive trap. When their relationship abruptly ends, “Fish Tank” shifts gears and becomes a wild psycho thriller that involves Mia kidnapping a little girl. It’s in this film’s second hour that I found myself truly on the edge of my seat.

I’m not quite sure what the film’s title means. This movie is unique in the way that we see everything from Mia’s point of view. Arnold’s camera never strays from this. We never see Mia, or her story, from anyone else’s viewpoint. In a way, for the audience, it’s quite voyeuristic. We’re allowed to look, but unable to touch. Much like looking into a fish tank.

DVD Double Feature: Great movies about troubled teens are not limited to British cinema. 2003’s “Thirteen” is a revealing look at American teens. It’s the portrait of an intense mother-daughter relationship gone sour starring Holly Hunter and Evan Rachel Wood. “Thirteen” was directed by Catherine Hardwicke and the screenplay was written by real teenage co-star Nikki Reed. Despite it’s ‘R’ rating from the idiotic MPAA, this is one of the most important films made about teens that any and every teenager must be allowed to see.

Michael The Moviegoer