Review of Fish Tank (2009) by Jluis_001 — 24 Jul 2021

An interesting but excessive portrait of an isolated 15-year-old girl who only seems to be looking for problem after problem without really finding a reason that feels not only rational but more edifying.

It's absolutely understandable that a teenager would act in such an impulsive way, but Fish Tank goes so far as to make me say. Enough.

This is mostly because the main character is a mix of cliches waiting to explode.

From being shown as weirdo, an outcast with no friends. She doesn't study, she lives in a disastrous home where she, her sister and her mother can only communicate with screams.

Her mother is in a relationship with a dude who evidently ends up abusing her trust and loneliness to end up having sex with her despite being a minor.

Like I said, it's a mix of a lot of cliches that come to feel disproportionate.

That's not to say the film doesn't have its merits, especially in terms of acting and how its director Andrea Arnold manages to sustain its plot by keeping you focused on the lead character, because after all, everything we see on screen is through her and only her.

I had different expectations of Fish Tank because it was considered a great movie, but to me it didn't seem like anything out of the ordinary, but it's a long way from being called a bad one.