Review of Fish Tank (2009) by Ronan L — 08 Oct 2012

Fish Tank is a film that has you endlessly on your toes, not knowing what could possibly come next. Every time you take a guess you will almost certainly be wrong, giving the plot a never-ending number of twists, making it incredibly unique and consistently enticing from start to finish.

From the very start of Fish Tank you are thrown in at the deep end, almost immediately the main character, Mia, is having a shouting match with her friends dad and nutting a girl in the nose. Starting the film like this really gives the impression that you are not seeing the start of the story, you have come in half way and are merely getting a glimpse. It helps kick start the voyeuristic style of the film from the very beginning, something that is prominent throughout and created outstandingly well.

The camera work is more than complementary to the story being told, unstable, jagged and authentic. The use of a hand held camera and keeping the scenes as natural as possible really shines a light on the realistic nature of the film.

Shown almost entirely from the perspective of Mia, Fish Tank creates a very vivid idea of what is going through her head. The connection that you feel to Mia is created very quickly, and is sustained throughout the film, really adding emotional depth. The fact that within the first five minutes of the film Mia had head butted a girl in the face and verbally abused both her sister and her friends dad, and the connection between Mia and the audience still thrives with very little judgment likely from the audience is a testament to the quality writing and directing. Making a character with such aggressive traits someone that the audience is still more than capable of sympathizing with and understanding truly shows the striking quality of Fish Tank.