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Fish Tank

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Fish Tank (2009)

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Reviews Counted:35

Fresh:33

Rotten:2

Average Rating:7.9/10

Consensus: Cannes Jury Prize-winner Fish Tank is gritty British realism at its very best with flawless performances from newcomer Kate Jarvis, and Michael Fassbender.

Rated: Not Rated

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:Jan 15, 2010 Limited

Starring: Katie Jarvis, Michael Fassbender, Harry Treadaway

Starring: Katie Jarvis, Michael Fassbender, Harry Treadaway

Director: Andrea Arnold

Director: Andrea Arnold
Studio: IFC Films

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Reviews for Fish Tank

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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Every scene is visually striking. More importantly, there's not a line of dialogue or performance that feels false.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
11/20/09
Steve Ramos
Steve Ramos
Boxoffice Magazine

Think of this as "Precious: The White Sequel"

Full Review Source: Compuserve | comment Comment
10/27/09
Harvey S. Karten
Harvey S. Karten
Compuserve

Fish Tank is a forceful, deeply depressing movie, less enjoyable than Arnold's Red Road, but not quite as pessimistic.

Full Review Source: Observer [UK] | comment Comment
09/18/09
Philip French
Philip French
Observer [UK]

Fish Tank feels electrifyingly bold. And yet, taken as a whole, it’s frustrating.

Full Review Source: This is London | comment Comment
09/11/09
Charlotte O'Sullivan
Charlotte O'Sullivan
This is London

A vivid portrayal of life at society’s margins with a compelling turn from newcomer Jarvis. Little wonder it scored at Cannes.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
09/11/09
Philip Wilding
Philip Wilding
Empire Magazine

A quietly intense, strikingly shot coming-of-age drama, Fish Tank establishes Andrea Arnold as a lyrical chronicler of marginalised Britain.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
09/11/09
Jon Fortgang
Jon Fortgang
Channel 4 Film

Arnold draws flawless performances from her cast while making exemplary choices with her camera.

Full Review Source: Times [UK] | comment Comment
09/11/09
Kevin Maher
Kevin Maher
Times [UK]

Arnold works wonders almost everywhere in this film: the drip-drop drabness of kitchen-sink drama is stilled, alive, and newly dangerous.

Full Review Source: Daily Telegraph | comment Comment
09/11/09
Tim Robey
Tim Robey
Daily Telegraph

A lean, empathetic and dramatically credible portrait of desperation and desire on the cider-splashed streets of adolescence.

Full Review Source: Little White Lies | comment Comment
09/11/09
Alan Mack
Alan Mack
Little White Lies

The strength of the script and the direction throughout is surpassed by the skill of all the lead performers, and especially Jarvis, who elevates what would have been a good film to something very special indeed.

Full Review Source: Digital Spy | comment Comment
09/11/09
Mayer Nissim
Mayer Nissim
Digital Spy

Jarvis is the discovery of the year, while Arnold has just stepped up into the same league as those masters of kitchen sink classics, Ken Loach and Alan Clarke.

Full Review Source: Sky Movies | comment Comment
09/11/09
Rob Daniel
Rob Daniel
Sky Movies

A powerful, poignant and beautiful film, Arnold crafts Brit realism at its best

Full Review Source: Total Film | comment Comment
09/11/09
Jonathan Dean
Jonathan Dean
Total Film

The film gains everything when it takes on the trappings of a thriller. As the teenager takes the fight to suburbia, there is a shocking sense of spatial transgression.

Full Review Source: Filmstar Magazine | comment Comment
09/11/09
Thom Hutchinson
Thom Hutchinson
Filmstar Magazine

There are moments of athletic grace, as Mia dances in an abandoned flat to her Discman; and a closing image, of a floating heart balloon, which does little to dispel the sense of emotional agoraphobia which has spooled out over the previous two hours.

Full Review Source: Uncut Magazine [UK] | comment Comment
09/11/09
Alastair McKay
Alastair McKay
Uncut Magazine [UK]

Fish Tank is full of surprises, twisting and turning like a teenage girl trying to escape the clutches of an unwanted suitor.

Full Review Source: GQ Magazine [UK] | comment Comment
09/11/09
Alex Blimes
Alex Blimes
GQ Magazine [UK]

Dreary and unoriginal, like hundreds of its sub-Ken Loach predecessors, this is how Billy Elliott might have turned out had it been made by a collective of depressive Essex girls.

Full Review Source: Daily Mail [UK] | comment 4 Comments
09/11/09
Christopher Tookey
Christopher Tookey
Daily Mail [UK]

Fish Tank takes you to places you never expected and, with pitch-perfect performances all round, makes for a beguiling and very real picture that conjures hope amid the most hopeless of surroundings. The best British film of the year.

Full Review Source: Daily Mirror [UK] | comment Comment
09/11/09
David Edwards
David Edwards
Daily Mirror [UK]

Great acting throughout the cast, raw energy and poignant imagery are surely what secured Fish Tank the jury prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival.

Full Review Source: Sun Online | comment Comment
09/11/09
Sun Online

The kind of thriller that Ken Loach might make in collaboration with Michael Haneke, a slice of social-realist cinema in which we are never sure what – if anything – is about happen. It’s oppressively pessimistic but also utterly gripping.

Full Review Source: Financial Times | comment Comment
09/11/09
Financial Times

Arnold controls this simmering tension as adroitly as she did in her first film: it's a real skill to present quite unpleasant characters and then reveal them as vulnerable, even loveable.

Full Review Source: Independent | comment Comment
09/11/09
Anthony Quinn
Anthony Quinn
Independent
 
 
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Latest News for Fish Tank

October 27, 2009: Fish Tank Claims 8 BIFA Nominations Opens in new window
The 12th British Independent Film Award nominees were announced yesterday, recognising Fish Tank in 8 categories including Best Film and Best Director. Duncan Jones's sci-fi... More...

September 09, 2009: Andrea Arnold talks Fish Tank - RT Interview
Having bagged an Oscar for her short film Wasp and a Cannes Jury Prize for her debut feature Red Road, Andrea Arnold concretes her status as one of Britain's hottest new... More...

June 28, 2009: Edinburgh 2009: Humpday wins RT Award
Humpday, directed by Lynn Shelton, has become the second ever winner of the Rotten Tomatoes Critical Consensus Award, it was announced today at an awards ceremony in Edinburgh.... More...

May 26, 2009: Cannes 2009: RT's 10 Must-See Movies
The 62nd Cannes Film Festival has officially wrapped, with most commentators agreeing that this year's selection was a cut above. There were some disappointments, but plenty of... More...

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