-By Ray Bennett
For movie details, please click here.
Following her Festival de Cannes Jury Prize-winning debut feature
Red Road in 2006, British director Andrea Arnold creates
another vivid portrait of a woman in the Cannes 2009 entry
Fish
Tank, in which newcomer Katie Jarvis gives a star-making
performance as a disaffected teenager. Co-starring Michael
Fassbender (
Hunger) and Kierston Wareing (
It's a Free World),
it's a vivid depiction of a single mom (Wareing) and her two
daughters living in a grim council flat on a decaying housing
estate on the outskirts of London.
The film will attract audiences drawn by Arnold's gift for
unblinking observation and some wonderfully naturalistic acting,
particularly by Jarvis, who is onscreen throughout. She plays Mia,
a foul-mouthed, aggressively violent and desperately yearning
15-year-old with a slovenly mother, a noisy kid sister (Rebecca
Griffiths) and dreams of becoming a dancer.
Arnold presents the claustrophobic urban wasteland where they live
as a breeding ground for anger and despair. The arrival of mother's
new boyfriend, Connor (Fassbender), brings some hope due to his
charming confidence and caring manner.
Mother cleans up the house and Connor takes the kids on outings and
encourages Mia in her dancing. The director subtly foreshadows the
events that follow and while they come as little surprise, they
play out in credible fashion.
Only one episode of revenge late in the second half stretches
plausibility, but it does not detract from the film's impressive
power. With her
Red Road crew of cinematographer Robbie
Ryan, making skillful use of handheld cameras, production designer
Helen Scott and editor Nicolas Chaudeurge all contributing sterling
work, Arnold creates searing scenes that stick in the mind.
Besides the dancing element, she weaves in a thread involving Mia's
compassion for an aging horse and captures the tiny moments of
affection that provide the glue that just about keeps deprived
families sane.
Fassbender and Wareing give honest and open performances as the
conflicted adults and young Griffiths, another first-timer, is
memorably sharp as the kid sister. The film belongs to Jarvis,
however, and she makes the most of it with expressive features that
convey Mia's mixed-up emotions from raging temper to sweet
vulnerability. She will go far.
-
The Hollywood Reporter
Film Review: Fish Tank
Penetrating portrait of a complicated teenager in a sour world, with a standout performance by newcomer Katie Jarvis.
Jan 12, 2010
-By Ray Bennett
For movie details, please click here.
Following her Festival de Cannes Jury Prize-winning debut feature
Red Road in 2006, British director Andrea Arnold creates another vivid portrait of a woman in the Cannes 2009 entry
Fish Tank, in which newcomer Katie Jarvis gives a star-making performance as a disaffected teenager. Co-starring Michael Fassbender (
Hunger) and Kierston Wareing (
It's a Free World), it's a vivid depiction of a single mom (Wareing) and her two daughters living in a grim council flat on a decaying housing estate on the outskirts of London.
The film will attract audiences drawn by Arnold's gift for unblinking observation and some wonderfully naturalistic acting, particularly by Jarvis, who is onscreen throughout. She plays Mia, a foul-mouthed, aggressively violent and desperately yearning 15-year-old with a slovenly mother, a noisy kid sister (Rebecca Griffiths) and dreams of becoming a dancer.
Arnold presents the claustrophobic urban wasteland where they live as a breeding ground for anger and despair. The arrival of mother's new boyfriend, Connor (Fassbender), brings some hope due to his charming confidence and caring manner.
Mother cleans up the house and Connor takes the kids on outings and encourages Mia in her dancing. The director subtly foreshadows the events that follow and while they come as little surprise, they play out in credible fashion.
Only one episode of revenge late in the second half stretches plausibility, but it does not detract from the film's impressive power. With her
Red Road crew of cinematographer Robbie Ryan, making skillful use of handheld cameras, production designer Helen Scott and editor Nicolas Chaudeurge all contributing sterling work, Arnold creates searing scenes that stick in the mind.
Besides the dancing element, she weaves in a thread involving Mia's compassion for an aging horse and captures the tiny moments of affection that provide the glue that just about keeps deprived families sane.
Fassbender and Wareing give honest and open performances as the conflicted adults and young Griffiths, another first-timer, is memorably sharp as the kid sister. The film belongs to Jarvis, however, and she makes the most of it with expressive features that convey Mia's mixed-up emotions from raging temper to sweet vulnerability. She will go far.
-
The Hollywood Reporter
