Review of Fish Tank (2009) by Seth C — 19 Jun 2012
Truly and powerfully uncompromising; Fish Tank will get under your skin. A strenuous but revelatory film to watch; it's characters are deeply human and it's storytelling, for all it's art-house aesthetic tendencies, is driving and extremely taut.
This isn't your average 'coming of age' teen drama. It's about the fires one must walk through in in the process of their social and physical maturation, in order to accept/understand the often harrowing, cruel world they live in.
It's imagery is beautifully and rich in symbolic subtext. Thrust upon the land like the fish that Fassbender's character catches with his bare hands; the fish, like Mia, like all of us, must find a way to breathe in a world we do not understand.
The performances from Fassbender and Katie Jarvis are so nuanced and heartbreaking yet illuminating. It is comparable to the 400 Blows, though the disturbing content/subject matter may prove too much of a struggle for some viewers.
This review of Fish Tank (2009) was written by Seth C on 19 Jun 2012.
Fish Tank has generally received very positive reviews.
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