The very centre of Fish Tank is a raw and ferocious performance by newcomer Katie Jarvis as the with-attitude 15 year-old Mia, expelled from school and left to kick her heels on a sprawling east London housing estate. Clashing with everyone around her, particularly her good-time mom Kierston Wareing, an angry Mia’s only interest is street dancing. Her life changes when mom comes home with latest man friend, Connor (Michael Fassbender).
In this deeply honest, unsentimental yet intimate exploration of life on the margins, director Andrea Arnold follows the tradition of British social realism. But she stamps her own view on the young female experience in its uncompromising and confronting truths.
Rating: 77%
Director: Andrea Arnold (American Honey, Red Road)
Writer: Andrea Arnold (American Honey, Red Road)
Main cast: Katie Jarvis, Michael Fassbender (Hunger, Steve Jobs), Kierston Wareing (The Double, TV’s EastEnders)
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