Those lucky enough to have seen Red Road, director Andrea Arnold’s award-winning debut feature, will know the score. Like its predecessor Fish Tank presents an unhappy if not quite grim depiction of economic and social deprivation. As the film opens, its 15 year-old heroine is already sinking into the mire. Frustrated, agitated and fiercely adolescent, Mia (the remarkable Katie Jarvis) has been kicked out of school and excluded from the playground.
She responds by going on the offensive. Her young, single mother is frequently in the firing line. Her savvy younger sister is a ‘fuck face’. Her ambitions to be a hip-hop hoofer are channeled into breaking another street dancer’s nose.
Matters are further complicated by the arrival of mom’s hot new boyfriend (Michael Fassbender), providing an Oedipal spine to the neo-realist drama. Between the voyeurism and the primal scene, it all gets a little Freudian. Or maybe just a little Jerry Springer.
Aye, there’s the rub. For all the impeccable performances, the carefully observed nuances, the beautiful direction, there’s something very artificial about Fish Tank. The more it strives for social realism, the more it feels like social tourism. This is Eastenders brand authenticity, interspersed with some admittedly magical moments. Ms. Arnold’s eye never fails her and she knows how to cook up an electrifying sexual storm with mere looks and glances. She knows, too, how to put the audience through an emotional wringer.
We’re not 100% convinced but we’d happily pay the admission price over to re-watch the bit where the family converge to the strains of Nas’ Life’s A Bitch.