| Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold, 2010) - If anything can be | | | | only reason Mom doesn't see the flirtations between |
| said for British filmmakers, it's that they know how | | | | Connor and Mia for what they are is because her |
| to do gritty realism. I loved This is England a couple | | | | past experiences with her daughter have led her to |
| years ago, and Andrea Arnold's Fish Tank just blew | | | | regard Mia as a basic screw-up, and thus she poses |
| me away. This was the first film I've seen from | | | | no threat. |
| 2010, and it's got me thinking it's an early front runner | | | | What's that old lesson when writing fiction? Details, |
| for my 2010 top ten list (2009 will be published March | | | | details, details. This movie gets all the details perfect. |
| 6, don't worry). | | | | For example, when Mom searches through Connor's |
| The film is shot resolutely from the point of view of | | | | music and doesn't recognize anything, she reacts, |
| our protagonist Mia. Mia is a 15-year-old girl growing | | | | "Your CDs are really weird." Connor incredulously |
| up in an economically depressed area in Essex. Her | | | | wonders how anybody could think Bobby Womack is |
| mother is usually drunk and does a pretty awful job | | | | weird. I always like it when taste and exposure to |
| at keeping Mia out of trouble. The apartment is tiny, | | | | music is used to develop the inner lives of characters. |
| and everyone is usually yelling at each other at the | | | | People in movies don't talk about these things |
| top of their lungs. The movie doesn't get into politics, | | | | enough. |
| but nevertheless the words "welfare state" came to | | | | The emotional details are just as precise. When |
| mind. | | | | Connor, out of apparent sincerity, starts giving advice |
| When she's told, "Your mother's passed out," Mia | | | | to Mia on how to improve her lot, she immediately |
| deadpans, "She does that." Nothing surprises this girl. | | | | pulls out of the flirtations and throws up that prickly |
| Mia seems to be particularly perceptive and attuned | | | | shell she's been using as protection. She wants to be |
| to her surroundings, but generally these kids grow up | | | | happy; she wants Connor to sweep her off her feet |
| fast. A stroll down the street often requires a good | | | | and take her out of her misery, but she instinctually |
| deal of braggadocio just to avoid getting punched in | | | | puts up a wall when anybody dares to tell her about |
| the mouth, or worse. Mia is an old soul already | | | | her life. We don't actually see what happened to her |
| bruised and battered by the oppression of others. | | | | before the movie started (there are no flashbacks), |
| And I'm not talking about class oppression. She is | | | | but presumed past hardships are presently felt. |
| oppressed by her peers, as everyone seems to be | | | | What's really refreshing about Fish Tank is that it isn't |
| out for themselves. Her harsh outer shell is a | | | | a movie about "coming of age" or "learning a lesson" |
| protective barrier, and a means to maintaining her | | | | - at least not in any cliché'd sense. This is a |
| independence. Mia turns to hip hop dancing (only by | | | | movie about the latest (and, granted, likely the |
| herself) as an escape and a place to direct her | | | | worst) in a string of disappointments in life. The film |
| energies. She also drinks nearly as much as her | | | | doesn't let anybody off the hook, and it doesn't |
| mother. | | | | treat them like children. The sense conveyed by the |
| One day, Mia wakes up and enters the kitchen to | | | | overwhelmingly emotional finale is one of profound |
| find Mom's new boyfriend Connor in a t-shirt and his | | | | existential regret. |
| underwear. As we see everything from her point of | | | | The performances are all dead-on perfect, and the |
| view, this scene crystallizes the nature of their | | | | camera is always intimately close to make sure we |
| relationship as we see it develop. She is attracted to | | | | get the details. Arnold shoots the film beautifully, with |
| him physically, he knows it, and he proceeds to put | | | | a naturalistic handheld style that is contemplative |
| himself on display for her, coming up with excuses | | | | when it needs to be, and blurry and whipping when |
| for them to be physically touching each other. The | | | | the emotions are being rattled. Go see this movie. |