Review of Fish Tank (2009) by Endora — 05 Apr 2010

Well handled snapshot of the main character's messy life and relationships, with both of the sisters being nicely cast. The younger sister, (Rebecca Griffiths as Tyler Williams), is particularly convincing as a child who has aged well beyond her years.

I really liked the self contained nature of the story, it neither lacked nor needed an introduction or postscript. We found out all we really needed to know about Mia and her world in order to make sense of her behaviour.

This is effective story telling cinema set in the real world, nicely cut and naturally staged. Maybe I was projecting an over reaction on to some shots but I felt the traffic passing Mia was violent in both sound and image, setting her wholly within a hostile world.

Ultimately bleak but also essential to understand the realities of life for some of us.