Fish Tank

Title: Fish Tank

Director: Andrea Arnold

Year: 2009

Country: UK

Studio: BBC Films

Rating: **** (4/5)

Movies with a lot of hype are a dangerous breed. They can either rise to the occasion and sweep the Oscars like Slumdog Millionaire, or all of that positive praise can backfire, leaving you with a disgruntled batch of movie fanatics and a film that isn't worth its own weight in celluloid. If you're an American judging the film solely from the previews, the newest film by British director Andrea Arnold (Red Road) would seem more likely to end up in the latter category -- but after careful consideration and attentive viewing, it's clear that Fish Tank has a lot more to offer than just your usual film festival trite.

Newcomer Katie Jarvis is absolutely fascinating as Mia, a 15-year old girl living in Essex whom often gets in her own way with her attitude and dysfunction. Her character is intensely troubled, full of both bitterness and love, cynicism and curiosity. Recently expelled from school, she spends her days drinking by herself, dancing to old school hip-hop in an abandoned flat near her own, and fighting with her apathetic mother Joanne who seems more interested in her own appearance than making sure her daughter is doing something productive. Mia and Joanne often clash over typical mother-daughter things, but once Joanne's new boyfriend Connor comes into the picture, it becomes clear that things are about to get interesting.

As a viewer, it's hard to make up your mind about Connor. At first, he seems like another scumbag boyfriend content on mooching off of Joanne, but as the film goes on we begin to see his softer, more nurturing side. He takes genuine interest in both Mia and her sister, Tyler, and although Joanne would much rather Connor's attention be all on her, they begin to function a little bit like a family. Mia is instantly attracted to her mother's new flame, but it's not really all that clear if she is just sexually attracted to him or if she sees him more as the father figure she's so obviously been lacking.

Connor seems to be the only person who notices that Mia is more than just a temperamental firecracker. While he acknowledges that she is troubled, instead of ragging on her he uses her own issues as a way of bonding with her. He encourages her amateur dancing, although it's pretty clear to the viewer that she's not very good at it. But what matters is that he believes in her, and it helps fuel her attraction toward him. After one drunken night, Mia and Connor have sex while Joanne is passed out upstairs -- an event that seems to almost traumatize them both as soon as it's over. Connor assures her that they will discuss it in the morning, but come morning Mia wakes up to find him gone and her mother crying.

Though other reviews and plot synopses bill this movie as something that becomes almost a battle between mother and daughter over the same man, it's not at all. In fact, nothing is ever really mentioned about it. Joanne is a selfish woman and appears to take interest in men over her children, but barely is it even implied that she would take Connor's side over her daughter when sex is involved. In fact, because the movie goes the other way with the subplot, it makes it that much more of a triumph. Fish Tank lacks all of the cliches that could possibly sink a film of its kind. It's a refreshing look through the eyes of a lost youth without all that Hollywood crap piled on top. It features a realness not found in a lot of films, and because it's not at all what the previews and reviews told you it would be, it's an absolute treasure.