Fish Tank

If you ever want to spend a frustrating five minutes, just try explaining to someone who Michael Fassbender is.  I’ve been a big fan for the past couple of years, yet ‘Fassy’ isn’t exactly a household name, and further complicating matters is his chameleonic propensity towards adopting different accents, looks and mannerisms for each of his roles. 

‘He was in Inglourious Basterds’ I’ll say.  ‘He was the British officer who gets killed in the basement bar during the shootout sequence.’

‘I saw the movie,’ the person will say uncertainly, ‘but I don’t remember him specifically.’

‘He was in that film Shame that came out recently?’ I’ll offer hopefully.  ‘He played a sex addict.  Won a couple of awards for it.’

Blank stare.

‘Um, he played an undead Nazi in this film called Blood Creek?’  Admittedly this is a stretch, partly because no one saw the film and partly because Fassbender spent the majority of the shoot in heavy zombie makeup.

And at this point I usually give up.  At any rate the seriously underrated Fassbender is at it again, this time starring alongside hitherto unknown teen Katie Jarvis in Fish Tank, a gutsy coming of age tale set in the lower class wilderness of an outer London housing estate. 

Directed by Andrea Arnold (Red Road) the film sees Fassbender portraying Connor, a dashing Irishman who sweeps 30-something Joanne Williams off her feet, providing in the process a glimmer of hope for her two daughters, disillusioned 15-year-old Mia (Jarvis) and her feisty younger sister.  As things begin once more to unravel, however, Mia withdraws into her only solace other than drinking and fighting - dancing - and after a brief, tentative attempt at finding love learns that the only person she can rely on in her emotionally barren world is herself.

It’s a stunning performance from Jarvis, made all the more so by the fact she had no prior acting experience - she was spotted by a casting agent while having a noisy row with her former boyfriend at a train station.  Her Mia is unpolished, unpretentious and eminently believable as the troubled teen seemingly unable to find her place in the world, the pathos made even more convincing by Arnold’s unorthodox shooting method, which involved revealing the script to her actors piecemeal on a week-to-week basis in order to ensure they had no idea where their character’s would end up in the story, either physically or psychologically.

It’s taken a while for the follow up to Arnold’s intriguing 2006 debut Red Road to reach local shores, but Fish Tank proves more than worth the wait.  The performances are impeccable, the storyline compelling and the end result simultaneously affecting and effortlessly convincing. 

Special Features

Interviews with Fassbender, Jarvis and  other Cast Members (18 minutes)

Dance Scene (9 minutes of BTS footage)

Katie Jarvis B-Roll (5 minutes)