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

Fish Tank is a fairly unforgettable experience from the talents of a director who is fast becoming one of the UK's most important filmmakers. This film is essentially a throwback to the British new wave of the 60's - a modern telling of dissatisfied (and habitually fucked) youth culture in Britain. The film succeeds on many levels, most especially its visual beauty and superb performances. It's biggest success is that it is a Rite of Passage movie with an abundance of Britishness and a charismatic protagonist.

Importantly though, the film left me a frustrated and angry for two reasons.

The frustration: Predictability reared its ugly head - Why did Fassbender have to turn out to be a cunt? And her audition have to be a lie? I was under no illusion that this girls life sucked. I just felt like I was being bombarded with shit after I had already fallen in a shithole.

The anger: the filmmaker imposed herself to much. A daft metaphorical decision to shoot in 4:3 in the first instance. But more annoying; the decision to call this film 'Fish Tank' was horribly presumptuous and pretentious - unforgivable in fact. It is a poorly considered metaphor that unfortunately demeans the creation of this film and the protagonist within - drawing full attention to the idea that this young girls trapped existence is behind glass for our entertainment. If the title is supposed to absolutely contradict the reality presented to us, then fair enough, but it pissed me off. Tie the metaphor down by at least giving the girl a fucking fish tank in the film if you intend to give it such a fucking condescending title - I mean, Jesus.

Anyway, anger aside, the film is definitely worth seeing and is as impressive as Arnold's debut (Red Road). Just ignore the irritating title and you can appreciate something that really is nicely written and directed.