Review of Fish Tank (2009) by Ross M — 28 Mar 2010

****.

This is a really wonderful coming of age film. Full of drama, humour and made well with some great performances. I was actually quite moved by this, there was something rather charming about the character of Mia, despite her flaws (hell we all have them...) she is also trying to do something, She tries to rescue the horse on the gypsy camp; she keeps practising her moves and applying for auditons and she tries to avoid her feelings towards her Mum's boyfriend, which fails nearly with fatal consequences. There is much to enjoy about this; The actress playing Mia is utterly perfect and real and Michael Fassbender proves he is a very good actor. There are some great visual elements, skyscapes hog the screen to great effect and there are is some great dialogue: To Kelly's Dad- "can you give Kelly a message?! Can you tell her her Dad's a cunt" and when they are talking about what animal they'd like to come back as and the mother says as a dog, only for the younger daughter to say "but you already are a dog". Brilliant. This film is in stark contrast with another coming of age drama I saw this festival, An Education. That film didn't sit with me right, but this one did and ultimately I found this more real and also touching, when she is about to leave and dances with her mum and sister, I thought that was perfect.