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Fish Tank review
:. Director: Andrea Arnold
:. Starring: Katie Jarvis, Grant Wild
:. Running Time: 2:03
:. Year: 2009
:. Country: UK
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Fish Tank is above all the story of a revelation named Katie Jarvis, the lead actress who was discovered at 17 in a train station. She carries almost all of the film on her shoulders, delivering with the force of words and gestures a violent sincerity at the service of a portrait of a young and disillusioned teenager in revolt, who repeats her dance steps in a worn down apartment while waiting for the opportunity to embrace her dream. Supported by experienced actors such as Kierston Wareing and Michael Fassbender, Katie Jarvis radiates onscreen. Both detestable and charming, fragile and indestructible, she injects richness and complexity into her character and it's what makes Andrea Arnold's work such an effective film.
If this story of a suburban English single-parent family, which for a moment is saved from drifting and boredom thanks to arrival of the mother's new boyfriend, unveils plot twists that are pretty predictable, it remains nevertheless a perfectly balanced work.
Never Manichean, the director depicts an England which fights for its own dreams (mostly some fugacious moments of happiness) through the prism of intimacy. Its characters move in a subtle way from grace (see the splendid scene where all of the company leaves for a ride, the kids return to their own nature after mimicking adults) to the ugliness of anger, cowardice and violence. This art of nuance brings to the film direction all its force, making Andrea Arnold a major British filmmaker.
Moland Fengkov
 Reviews: British Movies
Movie Reviews: from 1998 to 2011
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