FISH TANK
It’s hard to know where to start on this film. I’ve seen a lot of films lately about the often loaded relationships between grown-up men in their late 20s to early 30s and adolescent girls. With more women writers and directors are on the scene, at least in Europe, these films are finally offering us the girls’ perspective as opposed to the romanticized, sexual fantasies of directors like Woody Allen in films like, my personal favorite, Manhattan.
This time the adolescent girl in question, Mia (Katie Jarvis) lives in the projects, or estates, in Essex, east of London. She’s a tough loner, often in trouble but obsessed with hip hop dance, which she practices for hours on end. It’s clearly her out, her escape, maybe even a ticket to something better. Her self-absorbed mother Joanne (Kierston Wearing) looks (and acts) barely old enough to have had either her or her younger sister, Tyler (Rebecca Griffiths.) When mum brings home a new boyfriend Connor (Michael Fassbender), Mia thinks seems he maybe someone who is actually interested in who she is, what she’s about.
First, let it be said that Jarvis’ performance, with her flat affect and everything in the eyes, is outstanding. She’s from a working class background, discovered literally on a train platform, and had never acted (or danced) before. It’s quite bold to hang a film on someone so young and inexperienced but the director Andrea Arnold wanted non-professionals. She only gave out a few pages of the script to the actors a few pages several days before shooting so that they didn’t anticipate what came next in their performances. She also allowed a lot of improvisation. It all equals a lot of freshness, looseness, creativity.
Fassbender who never looks exactly the same from role to role, has a kind of Daniel Day Lewis look but less consistently intense, having done in addition to heavy weight peformances as Bobby Sands, in The Hunger, fluffier turns in 300, Inglorious Basterds and the upcoming Jonah Hex. This time, as a charmer, he gets to do move from lightness to intensity, and presented without judgment. Without spoiling the ending, you can see where the film is headed, but always hope for the best given that the film centers on the relationship between Mia and Connor.
Ultimately I’m not sure how much I liked it. The performances were careful, honest, unembellished and it was one more slice of a tough girl’s life. But as is often the case with very improvisational approaches, it was slow and directionless at times as if the director wanted to give everyone room to grow. At the end of An Education, we know what happens to the young girl, she makes it, she overcomes an exploitative relationship and grows up to be a successful writer. Despite the mostly light tone of Fish Tank, the ending, which takes a somewhat extreme turn, does not leave us with the same satisfaction. There is absolutely no guarantee that Mia won’t do exactly what her mom has done, and perhaps, this little episode has sealed that deal. As an insight to the real challenges faced by teenagers growing up with emotional as well as material deprivation, it confirms that class just about trumps everything.
Fish Tank is now in theaters.
Written and directed by Andrea Arnold; produced by Kees Kasander and Nick Laws; Director of Photography, Robbie Ryan; edited by Nicolas Chaudeurge. Released by IFC Films. Running time: 122 minutes.
With: Katie Jarvis (Mia); MIchale Fassbender (Connor); Kierston Wareing (Joanne); Rebecca Griffiths (Tyler); and Harry Treadway (Billy.)
