While it seems that every
week the British film industry trundles out its latest urban despair story,
lately heading more into gangsta wannabe culture and hollow shells,
occasionally a tale worth spinning makes an appearance amidst the uniform
gloom. Case in point, Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank, a suitably dysfunctional
coming of age flick aimed at all the right marks.
Council estate wildcat Mia
(Katie Jarvis) is a listless, aimless 15 year old with too much time, angst and
anger on her hands, taken to blow ups with friends and pointless fisticuffs
with strangers. Days toiled away on cheap cider and unfocussed motion are
changed, however, when her inattentive mother (Kierston Wareing) gets a new
boyfriend, the dangerously charming and charismatic Connor (Michael
Fassbender). Womanly curiosity piqued by his Irish brogue and eccentricities,
Mia forms a bond with Connor and through him begins to channel her energies
into her only passion; dance. But, given the dysfunction around them, and her particularly
destructive behavioral traits, it’s only a matter of time before things start
going wrong…
It’s not hard to notice just
how much of herself Arnold
has poured into this slickly moving, no frills piece, which serves almost life
a semi-autobiographical study in cynical ascent to adulthood and
responsibility. Each scene passes with an almost daunting level of
authenticity, dictated by the irrational actions of people with little to be
rational about and stuck in a constant cycle bereft of incentive. When it comes
time to escape, Mia ironically is able to make the trip because of the very
same raw animal determination which had previously been her anchor.
That’s not to say that Fish
Tank is an arduous slog through repetitive, depressive realism. While the
protagonist’s life, aptly described by the title, is certainly not a fountain
of joy, it still holds a degree of warmth that she has simply outgrown. And the
arrival of Michael Fassbender’s Connor certainly injects more fun into
proceedings, a childlike glee from little things like car journeys, nice music
and fishing trips. When things take a more serious turn, there’s a degree of
regret that the more innocent times have passed.
The very fact that such a
sentence can be used to describe the narrative flow and tone of a film with the
content on show is a glowing testament to Arnold, who manages to convey a huge
degree of humanity and empathy with a minimum of fuss or visible effort. And,
through her words, Katie Jarvis gives the film its spiky emotional core. An
amateur and non-actor, Jarvis certainly isn’t mannered with her performance,
but the genuine spark visible from first glance is clearly very real, and very
beneficial. She is Mia, in essence, for better or worse, fragility barely
hidden by crude demeanor and cruder tongue.
On the more finessed front,
current Hollywood star Fassbender is equally
outstanding as Connor, another honest and ambiguous turn from an actor reveling
in excellent, often funny and witty material. While our opinions as viewers may
vary on his motives or morality, they will not ask questions one could only put
to a person of fiction. It’s this degree of realistic characterization, the
kind that allows us to form judgments rooted in reality, which makes Fish Tank
shine while other similar fare fail to ever really register.
Don’t expect Billy
Elliot-style uplifting emergence, but by the same token there’s no sense that
the slog is futile. Taking in real themes of escapism and borrowed optimism,
Fish Tank’s core is one open to improvement and taken to leaps of faith in
search of greater things, something that Mia learns the hard way. To make one’s
life better, you have to take a step and take inspiration from even the darkest
of personal events. Even somebody stooped in gloom should be able to appreciate
that.
Moving along nicely and
displaying a flair for non-flashy heart of character and passion that permeates
deeply, Fish Tank is a classic both in its genre and on its own two feet, led
by a memorably real leading turn and a filmmaker at the height of her powers,
standing confidently on her own turf. A must see.
9/10
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