FISH TANK – remarkable performances
Staff Review
FISH TANK is impressive. This film is a clear, compassionate story of confused emotions (and street dancing) in the marshlands of Eastern England – the hinterland where London meets Essex and urban meets rural.
Director Andrea Arnold, whose RED ROAD was set in Glasgow, moves South for her second film. Her jumpy, intimate camera follows 15 year old Mia (Katie Jarvis, discovered by Arnold at Tilbury railway station) around her estate in Rainham, where she lives with her boozy single Mum and gobby younger sister Tyler. The three women share little more than a taste for supermarket booze, but when Mum’s new boyfriend Connor (Michael Fassbender) comes to stay with them, there is considerable change in the family.
From the very first frame – Mia, on her own, in an empty flat in her block, looking out over the flat lands of her manor, the London she sees in the distance no less alien and remote than the moon – Arnold captures with claustrophobic intimacy the rabbit warren-like lives of her characters. The use of the square aspect ratio accentuates the closed world the characters live in – if you like, the ‘Fish Tank’ of the title. There’s an element of Gary Oldman’s late 90s masterpiece NIL BY MOUTH in the characters cramped domestic conditions, but because this is summer in the marshes, Arnold is able to capture rolling skies, flat countryside and choppy rivers and reservoirs alongside the urban squalor. The juxtaposing of concrete and fresh air reminds us that this part of the country may be the back end of nowhere, but parts of it are beautiful.
Jarvis and Fassbender’s performances are remarkable, making the sexual tension between Mia and Connor plausible and – crucially – not uncomfortable to watch. It’s played out so convincingly that we barely register the contradictions of the relationship – in fact, we understand only too well the confused thoughts swirling around in Mia’s mind. The scene where she goes through Connor’s wallet is a remarkably subtle piece of storytelling sans dialogue.
Arnold has already been compared to Ken Loach. Her concerns are not quite the same as his, but she’s certainly as good as Loach in her own, next generation sort of way. It’s hard to think of a more relevant and enjoyable British film so far this year.
George Sawer – Phoenix Picturehouse, Oxford
I loved this film, one of my favourite of the year. I see the Loach likeness, but would say that I find it more of a Lynn Ramsay/European art cinema feel to her work. Watching this reminded me of Bresson’s films in particular, not at all for the narrative elements but characters and use of location, as well as the intimate photography.
Good year for Fassbender, and I can see Jarvis going on to do some stunning work if she want’s to keep acting.