full review at Movies for the Masses
Fish Tank (2009)
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work ![]()
Reviews Counted:36
Fresh:33
Rotten:3
Average Rating:7.8/10
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: Foreign Films
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
Reviews for Fish Tank
Every scene is visually striking. More importantly, there's not a line of dialogue or performance that feels false.
Fish Tank is a forceful, deeply depressing movie, less enjoyable than Arnold's Red Road, but not quite as pessimistic.
Fish Tank feels electrifyingly bold. And yet, taken as a whole, it’s frustrating.
A vivid portrayal of life at society’s margins with a compelling turn from newcomer Jarvis. Little wonder it scored at Cannes.
A quietly intense, strikingly shot coming-of-age drama, Fish Tank establishes Andrea Arnold as a lyrical chronicler of marginalised Britain.
Arnold draws flawless performances from her cast while making exemplary choices with her camera.
Arnold works wonders almost everywhere in this film: the drip-drop drabness of kitchen-sink drama is stilled, alive, and newly dangerous.
A lean, empathetic and dramatically credible portrait of desperation and desire on the cider-splashed streets of adolescence.
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.
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.
A powerful, poignant and beautiful film, Arnold crafts Brit realism at its best
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.
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.
Fish Tank is full of surprises, twisting and turning like a teenage girl trying to escape the clutches of an unwanted suitor.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Latest News for Fish Tank
December 07, 2009:
Awards Tour: Fish Tank, Moon Win British Independent Film Awards ![]()
Duncan Jones took home the Best Debut Director award and his film was named Best British Independent Film at the British Independent Film Awards in London last night. Fish Tank... More...
October 27, 2009:
Fish Tank Claims 8 BIFA Nominations ![]()
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...
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie | Date |
|---|---|---|
| 100% 100% | Daybreakers | 1/8 |
| | Leap Year | 1/8 |
| 86% 86% | Youth in Revolt | 1/8 |
| | The Book of Eli | 1/15 |
| | The Spy Next Door | 1/15 |
RT On Current TV
DIRECTV 358 | Comcast 107 | DISH Network 196 | More...
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
CloseSponsored Links
Fresh Links
Featured

Moviefone lists their top ten nude scenes from film in 2009.

Thomas Leupp offers us Hollywood.com's take on the best films of the year.

Last week, MSN gave us their top 09 films. Now see what their favorites of the decade are!

TIME chimes in with their own list of the best films released this year.

Click through to see which movies BuzzSugar placed in their Best-of-Decade list!
Promos

Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!







