Review of Fish Tank (2009) by Jim H — 04 Jun 2012

A troubled teen finds hope in dance and aggression everywhere else.

There wasn't a moment during Fish Tank when I didn't think that the camera was following a real person in a troubled life. With the handheld follow shots and the extended takes of Mia walking the streets, the film is shot in a style that is meant to be "real" but isn't; what created the realistic feel were the performances by the leads, especially newcomer Katie Jarvis and Michael Fassbender. As a character, Mia walks a dangerous line of being remarkably unlikable, and I wouldn't blame many viewers if she crossed that line for them, but for me, Jarvis's performance and the script was able to keep me interested in Mia and keep me hoping for her, which was a challenging task. Mia is written so that everything she does is both senseless and logical (but only within her own emotional and intellectual framework); she's both impetuous and meticulous. Contradictions like these make the character interesting even as her actions make her detestable.

The story is pretty predictable, but I don't think we go into films like these for the plot twists.

Overall, Fish Tank is one of the better adolescent character studies I've seen in a while, and Katie Jarvis could be a promising talent.