Fish Tank

Coming of age stories don't get much more piercing than this. We're introduced to the angry, aggressive Mia(Katie Jarvis) as she stares down a group of girls practicing their dance routine. Mia instigates an argument, then almost too casually headbutts one of the girls, nearly breaking her nose. Just another day in Essex for the 15 year old Mia, who's life seems to be in a perpetual death roll.  She lives in a public housing alongside her mom, Joanne, who seems barely more than Mia's age. They could be sisters. Joanne is a hot mess. She doesn't seem to work. She parties too much and drinks all day. Mia has a younger sister, who's foul mouth and ill temper seems to be hereditary. Joanne seems to loathe the very existence of her children. It's clear she'd much rather be left on her own to do as she wished.

Mia seems to have almost nothing worth living for. She's out of school. She fights with the kids her age. The only thing she has is her dancing. She wants to become a professional B-Girl, idolizing the hip hop crews she sees on the TV. She practices on her own, listening to old school 90s rap(the best kind!!) and honing her moves. Life is little more than an endless series of arguments and fights.

That is until mom brings home a new boyfriend, Connor(Michael Fassbender). I can imagine that her mom brings home many guys, most of them scumbags. Mia eyes him suspiciously at first, but eventually sees him as a pretty good guy. He takes them on road trips, one to the lake. Joanne doesn't want the girls to go, but Connor genuinely seems to want to make a connection. He appears to be around for the long haul.

Without going into too much detail, let's just say that Connor goes a little too far with Mia while the mom is in a drunken stupor one night. Since the film basically only follows Mia's perspective, we're never really privy to Connor's backstory. We do find out some details about him, seen only through Mia's eyes, but we're left to fill in the blanks ourselves. Mia's actions after her encounter with Connor are shocking and indefensable. Here in the States she'd be locked away and the key thrown away.

I dig this approach. Usually, films tend to get into the habit of explaining every iota of detail rather than leaving something to the imagination. Writer/director Andrea Arnold focuses solely on the tailspin that is Mia's life, and the people surrounding her are like flak and debris caught in the wake. The star of the film, Katie Jarvis, brings one of those performances that you know comes from truth she has experienced herself. Arnold found her on the streets in the midst of a argument, probably much like the one that began the film. Jarvis has since gone on to be signed by talent agents for Britain and the United States. We'll be seeing a lot more of her I hope.

Arnold filmed each scene in chronological order, which is different but nothing all that special. What she also did was to not give the cast their scripts until the day of filming, so that each actor never knew where their character was headed. It's a brilliant technique, keeping the actors on their toes and the emotions raw and fresh.

Fish Tank isn't perfect. Not every scene works, but Katie Jarvis is a force of nature. Her anger seems almost too big and real for such a small indie film. It's that volatile emotion that steers and powers this brilliant, gritty coming of age tale.