FISH TANK directed by Andrea Arnold (UK, 2009)
Andrea Arnold’s bold debut movie was about a CCTV operator in Glasgow and in a strange way her brilliant follow up ,Fish Tank, is also about surveillance. Yet, while in Red Road the woman was on the outside looking in, the teenage protagonist of Fish Tank is on the inside looking out.
Mia is 15 and her life on a council estate in Essex is about as interesting and varied as that of a goldfish. Money is tight but the flat where she lives with her mother and younger sister, Tyler, is decent enough; above all, hers is a poverty of the soul.
Her mom is more interested in partying than parenting so Mia and Tyler have become pretty wild and unruly. Like many kids of this age (and I speak from experience as the father of a girl around the same age) Mia is emotionally confused and desperately needs to find a way out of what she perceives as a boring, dead-end existence.
School offers nothing and she is on the point of being expelled. You could say that she doesn’t do a lot to help make things better. She’s on the defensive even before she is directly criticised and gets violent and/or foul mouthed when crossed. Yet, her streetwise bearing and combative behaviour is mostly just a front.
Katie Jarvis got the part as Mia when a casting agent saw her having a row with her boyfriend at Tilbury railway station (one of the locations in the movie). She was cast for her attitude rather her acting experience; a risk that could easily have backfired but doesn’t as she manages to pull off the difficult feat of looking scary and sassy while also convincing us of her vulnerability.
Her hopes and dreams centre on dancing but ,although she practices regularly to hip-hop music, you know this is never about to become a female version of Billy Elliot.
We never see her dad but in his place is Connor (played superbly by Michael Fassbender) who introduces himself as a ‘friend’ of her mother’s. He proves to be a charmer who openly flirts with her and ,initially, he appears to be a decent enough guy. While no monster, he subsequently proves to be anything but a father figure.
Without giving away the plot, I can say that the second half of the movie is totally riveting as it changes pace and focus in an unexpected but credible fashion. This takes the drama away from the kitchen sink for some gripping scenes where the potential for tragedy is very real.
Throughout, Andrea Arnold refuses to adopt any moralistic position and her keen eye for realism leaves little room for sentiment. She makes you feel the authenticity of the situations and to see that, despite the hard exterior, Mia is desperately need of support and understanding.
There’s a touching scene at the end where she and her mother dance to a rap tune by Nas – “Life’s a bitch, then you die, that’s why we get high”.
You’d hardly call this a cheery or hopeful message but the final shot of a heart shaped balloon flying away is a symbol of the fact that Mia does succeed in holding on to a dream that a better life is possible.
