Fish Tank is a British drama film directed by Andrea Arnold, and released in 2009.Its focus is on the harsh life of fifteen year old Mia (Katie Jarvis) where she lives a deprived life in a poor council estate with her young single mother Joanne (Kierston Wareing) and her little sister Tyler (Rebecca Griffiths). It becomes clear in the opening scene that Mia is a very impulsive and angry teenager. She is somewhat of a loner and doesn't really mingle with other people except to insult and confront them. She seemingly does not go to school and so spends her time aimlessly about, or in a upstairs flat where she likes to dance to hip hop, dancing seems to be the only thing that lets her escape from her misery along with booze. As shes walking about the area she stops to watch a group of girls dancing rather provocatively in front of some guys, they exchange insults, as Mia tells them they dance terribly. She keeps on walking and stops to see a dirty white horse that's chained up in a fenced off area she goes to it and tries to break it free, the owners, two young men come and assault her there is a third but he does not participate in that and instead just releases their dog, she runs away. Once at home she starts dancing to a music video on TV in the kitchen and that is where she first meets Connor (Michael Fassbender), her mothers new boyfriend. He comments on her dancing and she seems suspicious of him. a couple of days later he takes them on a trip to a pond where he teaches Mia how to catch a fish. back in the city Mia goes to a computer coffee shop place where she watches you-tube videos of people dancing hip hop, she sees a sign on the window asking for new fresh dancers, it is obvious that it means exotic dancers, but Mia does not realize that, she then becomes focused on auditioning for the spot. She finds where Connor works, at a hardware store as a security and visits him there, their relationship has gotten more fond and she shows him the pamphlet. Connor is supportive of the idea and lends her his camera to shoot herself dancing, since she needs to submit a video first. That night, she is watching the video she took of her dancing and hears noise across the hall she sees her mother and Connor having sex. She angrily slams her door twice to show she is awake.The next day she meets with Billy, the boy of the horse who had been kind to her, she accompanies him to a junkyard where he takes a part out of a car, she then takes them to get wasted and goes visits Connor at his job, where she asks for money. She keeps practicing her dance routine and a couple of days later, her mother and Connor come home late at night and her mother passes out in her room. Mia comes downstairs where she finds Connor, he asks her to show him the dance shes been practicing, after shes done he coaxes her to sit by him where he makes a move on her and they have sex. Alarmed Connor gets up and tells her not to tell anyone. The next morning Mia finds that Connor has left, she tries to contact him and finds where he lives in a nice well off neighborhood, she soon finds out he is married and has a young daughter. She impulsively coaxes his daughter to run off with her to a river, she takes her back late that night, as shes walking away Connor comes with his car, chases her and slaps her and walks away without a word. The next day she goes to the auditions where she sees that it is for exotic dancers, she leaves the place and goes see Billy, she asks for the horse and he tells her it died. He tells her he plans to go to Wales, she decides to come with him. Back at home she packs her bags. She goes out and meets Billy at his car, says goodbye to her sister and they drive off. You then see a silver heart shaped balloon floating in the sky.
The film had a very realistic feel to it. Its cinematography was choppy, the scenes sort of transitioned in a patchy manner, which i think helped add to the raw feel the film was meant to portray. As well as the acting, especially of Mia, there was lots of usage of raw language. The set was also very well laid out, you were really able to get the feel of a constrained poor environment, there were alot of details on the sets, for example throughout the house, there are old TVs and the content being shown on the screens also add statement to the film, the TVs are always portraying shows where people are getting make overs or they are happy and well off which contradicts the real situation of the film very nicely. Throughout the movie there is a lot of symbolism that makes the film go beyond the realistic effect it portrays, throughout the film Mia is very fond of animals with her own dog and especially with the white horse that is chained up, i think the chained up horse in a way symbolizes Mia, she is like the the dirty white horse, even though shes been tainted by her environment she is still pure and naive just like even though the horse is dirty and frail it has a white coat of purity, also she is constrained in her environment with no escape just like the horse, which justifies her repeated impulses of trying to free it. And towards the end of the film after she is coaxed by Connor to have sex, where she finds out later that the horse died, i think shows how her innocence and old life died like the horse did. It was hard to comprehend why the movie was titled fish tank but i think the scene that lets you see that is when Connor catches a fish with Mia, and he tells her that fish are stupid and dont see you coming as long as you are careful and slow in moving, which is exactly what Connor did with Mia and her family, he slowly won her over, taking advantage of her naivety. She is like a fish in a fish tank vulnerable and innocent to anyone who wants to catch her by surprise. Another point i found interesting was how Connor was one of the only people who was actually supportive of her dancing and was kind to her,and he influenced her so much that the song she picked to dance to for her audition was the one he had played to the family California Dreaming, but during her audition she just walks off and leaves the song playing, which helped show how Connor and her memory of him was worthy of being left behind in a place like that club, how despite his first impression he was a corrupt man who was actually hurting her in supporting her for that audition, since he knew what is was for. I do feel like the events did happen in a very short amount of time, but it turned out fine because of Mia's personality you sort of expect for things to happen spontaneously and quick. The ending was somewhat rushed, but i think was nicely wrapped together with the ending scene of the balloon flying in the air, which ends the message of Mia finding a new life and flying away from her situation.Overall i liked this film because of its realism and raw emotions, i think many people could really feel close to the characters especially Mia's and the situation she was in.
