Fish tank (2009)

Fish tank, directed by Andrea Arnold, is gut-wrenchingly good. Arnold knows how to make mundane landscapes, urban rubble, come to life. And her film handles its character very well - complexity & sometimes ambiguity are not refused. In contrast with many contemporary directors, she is interested in the medium of film making; there is not one sloppy image of this film - and there is no scenes that is added in the film only for its "information value". Taking into account the main character's interest in dancing, the film itself, and the handheld camera that lends a peculiar energy to the images, is driven by a steady rhythm. Sometimes that energy reminds me of greasy, American movies from the 70's (like Dog day afternoon). The very first frame has an amazing surge.

Lots of film makers attempt to make films that explore the theme of coming-of-age. Most of these films are terrible failures. Arnold's film features some real insight into young people's lives & how young people talk. In that way, her film doesn't come off as a contrived attempt at "authenticity". It's a story about Mia, who is in her element only when street-dancing by herself, her working-class family, and the drunken mum's boyfriend with whom Mia is infatuated. Despite its bleak story, the film is not worn down by moralistic tendencies. It's not trying to be bleak (except, perhaps, during a couple of scenes towards the end which are somewhat less accomplished than the rest of the film - but still great) and it's not trying to rub a message into your face either.

What makes Fish tank such a good film is that it takes a real interest in the world inhabited by its characters; a shady trailer park, grey apartment blocks, a deserted apartment, dichotomous suburbia. As one theme of the film is a young person's passion for dancing, it is only natural that, to a great extent, the film revolves around space; how space is made, inhabited, deserted. But the awareness of space also make the film politically and artistically interesting. The tension of many scenes builds upon the clash of one type of space with another: interiors & exteriors, grey apartment blocks & a quiet lake, a quiet forest & domesticized suburbia. And freedom is nowhere to be found.

For this particular reason, it is impossible to place Arnold's film in the "human interest" box. It is not a human interest movie the purpose of which is to make the viewer "empathic". If people tell you it's a film about "dysfunctional families" you might be led to think it is. But you can just as well say it is a film about dysfunctional space. And, anyway, Fish tank has more in common with the fierce realism of Mike Leigh or Ken Loach than with the very American style displayed in a recent films such as Precious.