Fish Tank

UK Release: 11th September 2009

Watched on TV: Thursday 18th/Friday 19th August 2011

Rating: 15

Genre: Drama

Runtime: 2hrs 3mins

Tagline: Live, love and give as good as you get.

IMDb Plot Summary: Mia, a foul-mouthed, stroppy fifteen-year-old, lives on an Essex estate with her tarty mother, Joanne, and precocious little sister Tyler. She has been excluded from school and is awaiting admission to a referrals unit and spends her days aimlessly. She begins an uneasy friendship with Joanne's handsome, extrovert Irish boyfriend, Connor, who encourages her one interest, dancing. What could go wrong?

My Review: Fish Tank is a Kidulthood that focuses on just a young woman (for once) which doesn’t need to be overly exaggerated, but instead is more real, thus in turn more helpless, fragile. 

Shot beautifully and far more artistic and breathtaking than any other British gritty drama that I’ve seen recently, the slow pacing allows the film, and indeed the plot, to expand and allow the audience to seep into this world and by the end feel its solid depths. leaving us with a heartbreaking lasting impression of the brilliant Katie Jarvis' debut role. 

There are strong performances all round, especially from Michael Fassbender who plays the ominous but alluring Connor whose charms engulf Mia as he pushed her towards achieving her dreams of dancing, which then movingly tumble to earth as she discovers who he really is and learns more about the cruelties of the world.

Fish Tank doesn’t, thankfully, focus wholly on the council estate or poverty (there have been plenty of that) but on the authentic tragic life of Mia - her dreams and relationships - where her grim home life is the perfect background. 

The dialogue and the consequences of everyones words and actions are completely recognisable; the awkwardness, the tension, the emotions... that is real life. 

Score: 8/10