tMF | The Movie-Fanatic

Starring: Kate Jarvis, Michael Fassenbender
Director: Andrea Arnold
Release Date: January 15, 2010 (Limited)
Running Time: 124 min
MPAA Rating: NR
Distributor: IFC Films
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Suffocation and boredom have grown extensively perverse for fifteen-year-old Mia, a young woman with an invisible visor shrouding her vision of the real world and who possesses lofty dreams that may not seem so rewarding. The weariness in the uncongenial surroundings of a housing project located in the underbelly of England, her home, overcomes hope and dreams. But there is a ruthless, intense and enlightening discovery to be found in this environment. A lesson that can educate an individual in the subject of Life can be located here. Innumerable individuals can willingly succumb to the realizations of the harsh conditions and descend morally and physically (like Mia’s mother does), or others can challenge and struggle with the unruly conditions to find self-transcendence.

A naïve little girl, cynical in every approach she takes, wants to meet reality and mingle with ideas, forces and individuals who prove to be smarter, sexier, meaner and more cunning than she can ever be. She hasn’t a father, her younger sister is a foul-mouthed little brat and her mother drunkenly mopes around their home, barely clothed, with a cigarette always in her mouth dancing to hip-hop music.  Maybe Mia (Katie Jarvis) doesn’t want to ever come to resemble these characteristics which pervade her life. Maybe she is content with who she is but is just suffering due to her detrimental surroundings. Her window for opportunity is decreasing. If she plans on leaving her fish tank she needs someone to help her pry it open. Help arrives unexpectedly, though, and in an unexpected entity.

Connor (Michael Fassbinder), Mia’s mother’s boyfriend, seems to be an unlikely outlet for Mia to rely upon for stability. He takes the three girls on a road trip and declares “I’ll have to educate you girls.” He’s referring to musician Bobby Womack, but he may be subliminally referring to his presence in making their lives a better place. His presence has the potential to benefit them all, whether it be in a forceful or friendly way isn’t relevant to the situation. Just as long Connor’s presence can force any of the three out of their confined environment (resembling a fish tank) and face more treacherous waters. It is the journey that counts. No matter how devastating the real world can seem, how it can convolute her dreams, it is the experience that is much needed for Mia. But it is Mia who falls under his charming and sinister spell. Connor sees how vulnerable and in-need Mia is. And he is right. Jarvis and Fassbinder, both wonderful, play these scenes with underlying erotic tension, taking the conventional to mysterious places that have severe consequences for each character.

The plagues of a typical teenager have become conventionally expository: father gone; mother having sex with another man; no friends; isolated; ambitious. All are incorporated within Fish Tank but in a way that doesn’t feel forced. They are rearranged in way that has philosophical (the chained horse) and sociological meaning. The film’s impetus comes from the in-your-face narrative and in a strange way it is gorgeous, as it is always perpetuating with a force that seems to be increasing with rawness and inextricably tied to reality.

Mia is played wonderfully by newcomer Jarvis. She gives her character a bountiful of energy and director Andrea Arnold, without hesitation, sees this and cultivates it immediately to fit within each frame of her film. In only her second film (her first being Red Road) she takes astute notice that individuals, especially rambunctious teenagers, need cultivation. Growth is necessary, and in Fish Tank it is experience that will manifest growth. This is powerful stuff, and the way Arnold charges her film with a surfeit of realism is a necessity in order to chart growth. Her depiction of rural life in England is a side cinema hardly takes notice of. Last time it was depicted this raw and gritty was 2007 in This is England, another powerful film that portrays youth stunted due in part of the customs and surroundings they are encompassed by.

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