We'd cry too if we had that bedspread

Cast:Katie Jarvis, Michael Fassbender, Kierston Wareing, Harry Treadaway
Director: Andrea Arnold
Screenwriter: Andrea Arnold

Andrea Arnold’s first feature, Red Road, won plaudits deservedly for its intense, psychosexual drama and assured filmmaking style. If it put Arnold’s name amongst Britain’s top social realist filmmakers, Fish Tank should shift her further into the category and, if fairness is to prevail in the world, make a star of Katie Jarvis.Mia, played by first-timer Jarvis, is a troubled fifteen-year-old living on a council estate in Essex. We are introduced to her as she stalks around her domain, looking for a friend of hers before eventually meeting the friend and delivering a headbutt to her amid a torrent of expletive-strewn abuse. She lives in the estate with her mother (Wareing) and sister (Chase), the former of whom seems jealous of her and neglects her role as carer. The latter seems to reluctantly look up to her older sister, copying some of her less savoury moments like drinking dirt-cheap cider and smoking before reaching her teens.

Into their lives comes Connor, played with a suave creepiness by Michael Fassbender, likely best known for his emaciated turn in Hunger. Mia and Connor strike up a relationship as he begins to slowly bed in with the family, sleeping with the mother but slowly charming Mia. Aside from this, Mia wants to become a dancer and practices in an abandoned flat in the block, shy of showing off her skills in front of friends or family. She also befriends a local traveller, partly through her initial desire to free the horse his family has in its camp.

Jarvis is quite amazing in her first role. Cast through a chance encounter with the casting director for the film, her performance is of the ilk which cannot be taught or rendered. Arnold’s direction, which seems to allow her space to herself, allows Jarvis to let genuine emotion shine through in a way that a trained actor would struggle to match. Her blossoming through the film as she grows in curiosity and confidence feels entirely real, comparable to the performance given a couple of years ago by Thomas Turgoose in Shane Meadows’ This is England. If you see a better, less affected performance this year, you will be lucky.

The story itself unwinds beautifully, teasing at relationship developments and capturing the intimacy of the situation. Though the family involved struggles to show the necessary love to each other, they are boxed into a small flat and the closeness, in terms of proximity, translates into a compelling study of claustrophobia for Mia. She desperately wants to escape from her life, has reached a point where she is beginning to seek for more outside of her childhood world but is caught between seeking out the freedom which presents itself and satisfying her burgeoning lust.

Fish Tank – trailer

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The chemistry between Fassbender and Jarvis too is, at times, electric. Fassbender’s oily Connor, at first a seemingly caring influence for Mia, soon begins to shift as his affectations towards Mia become less fatherly and err on the side of predatory. Also excellent is Wareing as Mia’s mother, a selfish and reluctant parent who still seems to have an air of maternal nature to her, if only in the most fleeting of moments. It’s perhaps no coincidence that Wareing got her start working with Ken Loach, the most natural predecessor for Arnold stylistically and thematically.

If the film falters, it’s only towards its conclusion, as it takes one left turn too far and begins to move into the realms of unreality. The conclusion itself is entirely satisfying, but certain narrative developments appear more concerned with turning up the tension rather than working to find the truth which the rest of the film so vividly captures.

Arnold’s direction, notably given its status as her sophomore effort, is assured and gentle. She seems to provide her actors with a great deal of space in which to allow their characters to breathe. Her use of music throughout might sound atypical, notably the prominent use of Nas’ ‘Life’s a Bitch’ as the family joins in one moment of togetherness before the final break, but it works perfectly in portraying the disenfranchisement felt by Mia within this world.

For film number 2, Fish Tank will work to place Arnold amongst the top tier of modern filmmakers and should, really should, provide Jarvis with a launching pad for a great career. It is unlikely, however, that she will ever give a performance like this one again.

Fish Tank is in cinemas now via Artificial Eye