Fish Tank Review 5/5

Katie Jarvis and Michael Fassbender in "Fish Tank"

5/5

Fish Tank stars Katie Jarvis as Mia Williams, a 15-year-old girl who lives in Essex, England. The life she lives is a terrible one. People ridicule her constantly, the apartment she lives in is in a high poverty area, and her mom is never there to help her. Typically in movies, there’s always that person that helps lead these hopeless characters to a greater one and help the rise above the odds, well that doesn’t exist in this film.

Mia doesn’t have somebody look up to. Her father isn’t in her life, most likely either dead or divorced. Her mother, Joanne played by Kierston Wareing, lives the life of a woman in her 20’s. She doesn’t seem to care for her children. Some might think that she’s a bad mother but viewers need to take into consideration that they don’t know the mother’s past. For all we know, the mother was in an abusive relationship and that’s why she’s living life the way she is. Her actions seem more reasonable if you think sympathetically like that.

Mia’s mother ends up bringing a new boyfriend home day named Conner played by Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds). The man encourages Mia to do things in her life like try out for a dance audition. A lot of people might misunderstand Conner as kind of a creeper but I wouldn’t say that. He’s just a bad person is what he is.

The real heart of this movie though is that Mia doesn’t need the help of some great and wise mentor. She learns to leave these things behind on her own. Learning through experiences is a lot more real to me than a character helping them. It’s just a lot more authentic and true to life. In reality, most people don’t have that person in their life and it’s up to them to learn and make their own choices.

Also, Katie Jarvis gives a standout job as far as acting goes at the young age of 18. This was actually her first acting role; she’d never acted before this film at all. A casting director spotted her in Essex getting into an argument with her boyfriend. Jarvis didn’t believe the casting agent that she wanted to have her audition, she actually refused to give her phone number away. The agent left a card with her number though. Jarvis grew up in the same kind of neighborhoods that her character did and even had a child at the young age of 16. This is her life and that’s why her performance is so raw and truthful.

The camera work in this film is also kind of interesting, it’s all done with handheld cameras and done quite well. The version I watched was in fullscreen, apparently it was film in widescreen but the financer’s wanted it released in fullscreen for some reason. The director said that he actually prefers it this way. I think it was a great move personally though, the actors are always the center of attention and I think it adds a certain aesthetic to it. Fullscreen, the new black and white.