Fish Tank

Talented writer-director Andrea Arnold follows up her darkly reflexive mystery, Red Road, with a more straightforward, but equally compelling, coming-of-age tale. Fish Tank stars newcomer Katie Jarvis as Mia, an angry, introverted 15-year-old living in an Essex council estate with her self-involved, neglectful young mother, Joanne (Kierston Wareing), and her little sister. Mia's life and attitude begin to change when the charismatic Connor (a spellbinding Michael Fassbender) starts dating Joanne, and seems ready to become part of the family. But as Connor begins to break through Mia's tough veneer, a palpable sexual tension begins to develop, threatening the family's already unstable domesticity. Arnold takes her time, and does a tremendous job of making us care for her frequently passive, yet volatile, protagonist. The setting is fairly grim, but Arnold doesn't wallow in misery, illustrating the watchful Mia's comfortable familiarity with her surroundings, and frequently allowing gentle moments of bliss and beauty to break through the drudgery. Sensitive but clear-eyed, Fish Tank is an expertly shot character study with moments of laughter, suspense, and heartbreak, all generated from our recognition of the essential humanity of these conflicted and complex individuals. Arnold judges no one, showing us Mia's resilience and her rage, along with the human strengths and weaknesses of all her richly drawn characters.