Fish Tank

So, Netflix had recommended this movie to me, oh about a million times. Unfortunately, I can't help but judge movies by their cover art and this one looked too 'eh'. Fortunately I watched the trailer and learned that it had a younger Michael Fassbender in it, and I was all in. The movie is a small British film from write/director Andrea Arnold (who also did the new Wuthering Heights). It was also shot chronologically and the actors didn't know the story more than a week in advance of the scenes they were shooting. It was only released in 15 theaters here in 2010.

The movie is about a young 15 year old girl who has been kicked out of school and spends the days with her mother, who parties way too much. As she spends her days wandering, breakdancing, and waiting for her new boarding school orders, she meets a new boyfriend of her mother's and starts to form an unlikely bond with him.

Well, the plot was a little bit depressing, but I do enjoy seeing how the 'other half' of the UK lives. The main character's motives were a little questionable at times, as I'm not quite sure she'd actually do some of the things she did, i.e. kidnapping and random urination. Yes, those two scenes did happen. Michael Fassbender's character was likable at first, then he too, fell victim to some strange choices. Overall, there was a storyline and the main character was quite complex.

The cinematography was quite nice with lots of shallow depth of field shots. There was also time spent on the non-dialogue parts of the movie; as it followed her dancing, or walking along a fence, or petting a horse. The editing and pace of the movie really mimicked how she was 'stuck' in her world.

The lead actress, Katie Jarvis, did rather well considering she'd never acted before and the director found her at a train station as she was fighting with her boyfriend. Michael Fassbender was much more energetic and youthful than I've seen him before, and it was great.

In the end, the movie was, well, not horrible. I like the behind-the-scene stuff, like how it was shot chronologically and the actors didn't know the storyline. But on the other hand, there were some things that were 'icky' in the movie and turned me off from the plot and disconnected me with the characters. I'm interested to see how she did Wuthering Heights. "What are you looking for? A volvo 940. What's it look like? Like a Volvo 940".