Fish Tank is an interesting title in the latest edition of The 1001 Films To See Before You Die. It was to be expected that Avatar, Inglorious Basterds and Precious would be included due to the bundles of awards under their arms, their well-respected directors and the billions of dollars they took at the Box Office, but Fish Tank (only director Andrea Arnold's second film) has little reputation by comparison and is included in the book on its merits alone. Fish Tank focusses on the life of 15 year-old Mia (Katie Jarvis), an aggressive, foul mouthed loner and her mother Joanne (Kierston Wareing) and sister Tyler (Rebecca Griffiths), all of whom become reinvigorated with the arrival Connor (Michael Fassbender), Mia's Mother's new boyfriend.
Fish Tank is a very interesting modern British Film, with a very heavy emphasis on British. Like many other offerings of recent years it focuses on life within a council estate and the effects of the education system and family life on young people. The theme of family runs straight through the film, it is questionable as to whether Mia has a family of any sort, her sister is abusive, her mother moreso. The only moments where a family dynamic seems established is when Fassbender's Connor appears and quickly assumes an encouraging fatherly role, albeit a little too quickly to be comfortable. Nothing remains constant in Mia's life, her mother's attitude towards her changes as quickly as the weather, her school is changing and her family too, though she rarely changes her greying hoodie.
Fish Tank rests on Katie Jarvis' portrayal of Mia, with no previous acting experience before Fish Tank (not even a bit part in Waterloo Road) Jarvis' performance is astonishing and vicious. It is perhaps telling that she was spotted by a talent scout in the very area the film is set, Jarvis acts like she knows every bleak detail of the neighbourhood, every crack in the pavement and every can by the roadside. Michael Fassbender's portrayal of Connor is equally profound, at no point does Connor's prescence ever feel comfortable, Connor is over-friendly to the point of being creepy, Fassbender can just flick a look in one direction and make you feel uneasy. Kierston Wareing and Rebecca Griffiths feel like secondary characters, but both of their frantic performances are not easily forgotton, Griffiths in particular makes Hit Girl look timid.
Fish Tank does not present any revolutionary new camera techniques, it does not change "the game" in any way or heave intolerable amounts of "grit" or "darkness" into the story which many British films have a tendency to do at the moment. What it does do is demonstrate the power of brilliant performances and an engaging script. One of the final, most heavy hitting moments of sadness comes when watching the credits which reads "With Thanks to the UK Film Council", a film such as Fish Tank demonstrates importance of this now redundant body in selecting and supporting the best British talent.
Thursday 16 December 2010
Monday 6 December 2010
COMING SOON
I know it has taken a while to publish the review of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, but never fear new reviews are on their way soon, and will not take as long as the Priscilla. Look forward to
300: Fish Tank
301: Blow Up
299: Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is a road movie through and through. Three drag queens begin a journey across the Australian Outback for a month's residency at a hotel owned by one of the drag queens' wives. On this journey, the three companions stumble upon oddballs, homophobes and new loves whilst discovering things they never knew about one another. Appearing first in 1994, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert burst into cinema's in all it's finery and won an Academy Award for Best Costume Design.
The central trio of the film consists of Tick (Hugo Weaving), Adam (Guy Pearce) and Bernadette (Terrence Stamp) played by very fine actors, but none of whom are actually gay and as such have little idea of what it is to be gay. As such Weaving, Pearce and Stamp seem to be playing their parts with as much flamboyance as possible in order to try and distract the audience with pretty colours whilst covering up any moments of emotion or character interaction that fall flat.
The colours are very pretty indeed, with the film deserving it's Academy Award for Best Costume Design. At the very least it can be said that writer and Director, Stephen Elliot has visual flair. The pivotal moment where the three friends climb Kings Canyon in all their finery is a moment of real beauty. Elliot chose well to switly move any moments of strife, anguish or desperation along in order for the script to get around to another ABBA joke or the next village on the journey. None of the actors seem fully capable of creating any kind of performance that is believable, the only thing that resonates is Guy Pearce's shrill manic laugh.
As it becomes so evident at the beginning of the film it is essential to remember that this film is best seen as a comedy, when approaching the film it is better to just go along for the ride and to not question or invest too much in the characters. Even if some of the jokes don't hit the mark or become tired towards the end of the film, Priscilla is at certain moments very funny. It appears that Elliot is influenced largely by John Landis, one scene in particular where Bernadette walks into a bar to eerie quiet recalls The Slaughtered Lamb in An American Werewolf in London. Elliot's combination of music and comedy seems to echo Landis' The Blues Brothers too.
Priscilla, Queen of the Desert may be in the list of 1001 Films To See Before You Die, but how long it will remain there is another question. No longer as shocking as it may have been 16 years ago, Priscilla almost seems irrelevant, the multitude of films that have been released since that concern similar themes are vastly superior to this quickly aging pantomime. Priscilla definitely has moments of hilarity and of cinematic scale, but these no longer seem enough to keep the film in the 1001 Films To See Before You Die.
The central trio of the film consists of Tick (Hugo Weaving), Adam (Guy Pearce) and Bernadette (Terrence Stamp) played by very fine actors, but none of whom are actually gay and as such have little idea of what it is to be gay. As such Weaving, Pearce and Stamp seem to be playing their parts with as much flamboyance as possible in order to try and distract the audience with pretty colours whilst covering up any moments of emotion or character interaction that fall flat.
The colours are very pretty indeed, with the film deserving it's Academy Award for Best Costume Design. At the very least it can be said that writer and Director, Stephen Elliot has visual flair. The pivotal moment where the three friends climb Kings Canyon in all their finery is a moment of real beauty. Elliot chose well to switly move any moments of strife, anguish or desperation along in order for the script to get around to another ABBA joke or the next village on the journey. None of the actors seem fully capable of creating any kind of performance that is believable, the only thing that resonates is Guy Pearce's shrill manic laugh.
As it becomes so evident at the beginning of the film it is essential to remember that this film is best seen as a comedy, when approaching the film it is better to just go along for the ride and to not question or invest too much in the characters. Even if some of the jokes don't hit the mark or become tired towards the end of the film, Priscilla is at certain moments very funny. It appears that Elliot is influenced largely by John Landis, one scene in particular where Bernadette walks into a bar to eerie quiet recalls The Slaughtered Lamb in An American Werewolf in London. Elliot's combination of music and comedy seems to echo Landis' The Blues Brothers too.
Priscilla, Queen of the Desert may be in the list of 1001 Films To See Before You Die, but how long it will remain there is another question. No longer as shocking as it may have been 16 years ago, Priscilla almost seems irrelevant, the multitude of films that have been released since that concern similar themes are vastly superior to this quickly aging pantomime. Priscilla definitely has moments of hilarity and of cinematic scale, but these no longer seem enough to keep the film in the 1001 Films To See Before You Die.
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