FISH TANK REVIEW
Director: Andrea Arnold
Writer: Andrea Arnold
Fish Tank is a film which is based in England, this film is a story of a 15 year old girl called Mia (Katie Jarvis) who has a passion for dance and the freedom in which she gets when she is alone in her abandoned apartment listening to music expressing herself. It seems that when her mum Joanne (Kierston Wareing) brings home her new boyfriend Connor (Michael Fassbender) who seems to create a father figure in Tyler’s (Rebecca Griffiths) eyes and a new interest for Mia the young and inexperienced teen.
From the onset of the film you get a feel for the environment that Mia has grown up in, the cloudy and dark skies in a way express the way that she is trapped in and there is no gaps to escape the life she is leading. The most powerful shot in this film would have to be when she is in the abandoned apartment and the camera slowly captures her silhouette and the view showing quite a desolate and uncared for land, which in a way is like her family at the onset when the house is unclean and all there relationships are dysfunctional for example Joanne abandons the kids to have a party for her friends leaving the children with nothing and she doesn't give a care in the world, but as the film goes on you see it all change like the weather throughout.
Each performance from Fish Tank was exceptional to the small roles of the dancers to Mia’s performance which won over me from the beginning when you see what many have to grow up in but they make it home, in a way the reality that many people in poverty in England have to live in but you forget because the advertisement for help is focused around Africa but in fact there are a large amount in the UK that have to live in poverty and some even starve and we forget most of this hardship. Mia’s performance is a true example of many teens in the UK today and also Taylor’s character because when she is smoking and drinking you firstly find it shocking but in fact the age that many teens start drinking and smoking in the UK is decreasing rapidly which is scary to imagine, when you are a teen yourself it opens your eyes, the performances really help you to grasp this in your minds.
In my opinion i think both Katie and Michael’s performances are truly outstanding due to the nature in which there characters are involved and the passion that they both secretly hint to each other until the end when all the walls get knocked down to uncover a scary thought. The part that shocked me the most is finally realising that Mia was only 15 years old while Connor was a lot older it truly made me sit back in my seat and question what just happened.
Throughout all the characters you see a change due to either Connor’s presence in a women’s run household or the environment around them which influences many of these traits. Tyler changes in a way that is surprising before she is drinking and smoking not giving a ‘Fuck’ but then as the story progresses you see her in a way she should be seen…as a child, this is truly seen when Connor comes into the father role, she finds comfort in him and he is like a father to them both when on both separate occasions he shows care by taking them to bed and covering them with the blanket to keep them warm showing compassion, which both of the girls have never seemed to have. That is clear when Mia is passed out on the bed from drink and he mom is saying they can just move her not worried about her safety or health just wanted to push her to the side so they can have sex, showing no compassion. Joanna’s character/performance is both breathtaking due to the nature of the mother figure which is more like the ignorant child, but you see a change when she is left by Connor, in a way the daughters all connect in a passion of music and dance which is the first time you really see the family come together which i found very powerful. Mia’s performance was overall breathe taking and clever, you see her character develop from a brutal daughter that took no shit from no one when you see her head butt the girl in the beginning that in a way makes you already have an opinion about her and what she really is but you really never understand what she is like, the care and sorrow she had towards the end but also the addiction and turmoil.
The genre that this film portrays is in a way drama because you see each and every moment that Mia has to go through and the dramas which influenced her to do the certain things she did. An example of this would be her getting provoked before she head butt the girl creating drama which didn't need to occur but that is the way she has been brought up, to stand up for herself and take no shit from nobody or you just wouldn't survive. War could also be a genre no in the historical sense but in the mental war going on inside of her to do with her feelings that are battling away in her mind, also the battle when she is on the edge of the water edge and Connor’s daughter is stranded in the middle of the water she could have just left her but instead she saves her and you see her eyes truly open to the fact that she doesn't want to become what her path would probably be in her position of where she lives but instead she beats destiny and breaks the locks that have been holding her down, just like the horse.
I felt the theme for this film would be Women vs Nature/Herself because throughout Fish Tank you see Mia battling with her surroundings and the nature of the people around her but also herself as he doesn't know what to do with herself with the dancing, with Connor or with her expression, so overall you see the true battle that goes on inside of her and at the end you see the battle show when she captures Connor’s daughter and tries to take her as her own to show the pain that he has caused her that she thinks her deserves now but she finally discovers that no one deserves revenge and that what is to happen will, her leaving is a good example of that.
The sounds throughout the film were powerful because they truly connected with the various things which were going on in the film, in the beginning when Mia was dancing in the apartment you hear the grit of the song and the harshness but as her dancing and passion exceeds you hear the music become sweeter and tasteful that truly connects with the moment in time. My favourite moment which i felt connected well with both the music and the dance was the part when Mia is showing Conner her dance for the audition, you can see that she wants it in her eyes and also to impress Connor and this is done by the soft and subtle moves but also the song choice which was the one Connor had recommended to Mia so all there things connected quite well in my opinion. Overall the music is much like the weather in the film, from the beginning it is dark and quite hard hitting but as the story develops and the purpose changes it becomes but lighter and softer which could represent Mia now having Connor in her life but also reaching the realisation that she may get out of this place and not have a hesitation to look back.
The weather i felt connected much like the sounds because from the mise-en-scene at the onset you see the grey and covered skies with no gaps but as Mia leaves you see the crisp blue skies and the sun shining through showing how it is going to be better now and there is no good looking back to the dark times but travel on to her bright future.
My favourite bit of narrative on scene would have to be the relationship between the horse, Mia and the balloon, this is because of the clever and covered up meaning of this whole film. I truly didn't realise the connection until the end of the film when it truly hit me and made me truly appreciate the films title and content connection. At the beginning you see Mia try and free the horse from the chains which were keeping it there and the hold it had over it, but as the story develops you see the horse become weaker and the fight be released from it representing that it was getting closer to becoming free and go anywhere not just stay in one place for the rest of its life which represents Mia being stuck where she is having no future never getting free but as she develops over time you see her fight to leave e.g. learning to dance meeting the boy who says they could go to Wales together thats when you see the break be lifted. As Mia goes to see the horse and finds out that it had to be put down you firstly believe that it is really sad but then you see it represents Mia she is now free from this place she is getting away and finally is free and that is the most powerful narrative of a story i have come across and it truly made me smile learning that she is out of there, free just like the balloon floating away into the distance no chains holding it down, it was finally free.
Overall i truly loved this film and the messages that were unclear at the beginning but which became apparent in the end, my favourite scene from this film was the part where she doesn't even look back to her old life she looks forwards to her new future and the things which she is yet to achieve and can leave the part and the people behind but always having them close to her heart.
