Fish Tank

Instead of the glossy visions of young girl angst films like Juno delight in portraying, British writer-director Andrea Arnold brings an unpolished, more realistic vision of female adolescence to her second full-length film, Fish Tank. There are no easy, clear morals or cutesy quirks to be found. And while this might exclude the film from mass distribution, it includes it in the arena of invigorating honesty.

The film centers around 15-year-old Mia (Kate Jarvis), a wannabe hip-hop dancer brimming with anger. She picks fights with strangers and alienates herself from everyone with her harsh exterior. And the cause of this attitude is no mystery: Mia's drunken mother is a bleach-blond bimbo who would rather party and bring home sleazy boyfriends than pay any interest in her two daughters.

It is one of these boyfriends, the charming Connor, who becomes involved with Mia on a fatherly level, which soon devolves into the sexual. It's easy to see why Mia is drawn to him: he's seemingly stable, handsome, and expresses an interest in her that she's never received before. Of course, Connor isn't the knight on a white horse Mia desperately wants him to be, and his moral crimes go beyond seducing a teenager. But somehow, Mia is able to emerge from this wreckage not unscathed, but still fighting to escape her bleak life.

Jarvis brings a feisty reality to the character of Mia, and close detail shots of the objects that make up her Essex life manage to place beauty in a film that often feels tense and grim. The comedic timing of Rebecca Griffiths, who plays Mia's younger sister Tyler, also lightens the mood.

Fish Tank is gripping, terrifying, and raw, but it also contains a tender hopefulness. Arnold is both sympathetic to her flawed characters and unapologetic in her portrayal of them. Fish Tank isn't for those looking of a polished, fantasy world. But it is a truthful, exposed take on the coming-of-age tale done with refreshing sincerity and grace.

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