Event

Fish Tank

Winner of the Cannes Jury Prize, Fish Tank is an emotionally stunning coming-of-age story, electrified by the breakthrough performance of its young star Katie Jarvis. Fifteen-year-old Mia (Katie Jarvis) is in a constant state of war with her family and the world around her, without any creative outlet for her considerable energies save a secret love of hip-hop dance. When she meets her party-girl mothers charming new boyfriend Connor (Michael Fassbender), she is amazed to find he returns her attention, and believes he might help her start to make sense of her life. A clear-eyed, potent portrait of teenage sexuality and vulnerability, FISH TANK confirms writer/director Arnolds status as one of the leading figures of new British cinema.

"The scope of the movie is completely Mias experience; the camera moves with her in almost every shot FISH TANK fits well in the British tradition of social realism movies, but banishes any sentimentality in exchange for allowing its characters to respond fully to their ever-worsening circumstances. Still, in all that goes wrong, Arnold provides Mia, and thereby the audience, small moments of rest, beauty, and limited transcendence." - Candice Writ, Cine File

"Andrea Arnolds gritty story of a troubled, headstrong teenager and wannabe dancer who carries on an affair with her moms scuzzy but likable boyfriend (played by one Michael Fassbender) demonstrated the directors deft handling of messy human relations, as well as the power of her loose, improvisatory style." - Vulture

"A bold new entry in the long-standing British tradition of disquieting social realism." - Ian Buckwalter, NPR

"[Andrea] Arnold has a knack for subtle details but also for portraying female characters whose natural warmth and energy have been muted by trauma or social isolation." - Film Comment

"...a commanding, emotionally satisfying movie, comparable to such youth-in-trouble classics as The 400 Blows." - New Yorker

"Jarvis, whom the director reportedly discovered at an Essex train station, is nothing less than a revelation in a performance that is tender, spiky and utterly fearless in its physical and emotional range." - Ann Hornaday, Washington Post