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IMDbPro

Fish Tank

  • 20092009
  • Not RatedNot Rated
  • 2h 3m
IMDb RATING
7.3/10
64K
YOUR RATING
Katie Jarvis in Fish Tank (2009)
Everything changes for 15yr old Mia when her mum brings home a new boyfriend.
Play trailer2:04
9 Videos
94 Photos
Drama
Everything changes for 15-year-old Mia when her mum brings home a new boyfriend.Everything changes for 15-year-old Mia when her mum brings home a new boyfriend.Everything changes for 15-year-old Mia when her mum brings home a new boyfriend.
IMDb RATING
7.3/10
64K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Andrea Arnold
  • Writer
    • Andrea Arnold
  • Stars
    • Katie Jarvis
    • Michael Fassbender
    • Kierston Wareing
  • Director
    • Andrea Arnold
  • Writer
    • Andrea Arnold
  • Stars
    • Katie Jarvis
    • Michael Fassbender
    • Kierston Wareing
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 145User reviews
    • 177Critic reviews
    • 81Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Won 1 BAFTA Award
      • 21 wins & 29 nominations total

    Videos9

    Fish Tank
    Trailer 2:04
    Watch Fish Tank
    Fish Tank
    Trailer 1:57
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    Fish Tank
    Clip 1:19
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    Fish Tank
    Clip 2:24
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    Fish Tank
    Clip 1:14
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    Fish Tank
    Clip 0:54
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    Fish Tank
    Clip 1:46
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    Fish Tank
    Clip 1:17
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    Fish Tank
    Clip 2:01
    Watch Fish Tank

    Photos94

    Kierston Wareing in Fish Tank (2009)
    Michael Fassbender and Katie Jarvis in Fish Tank (2009)
    Katie Jarvis in Fish Tank (2009)
    Fish Tank (2009)
    Katie Jarvis in Fish Tank (2009)
    Katie Jarvis in Fish Tank (2009)
    Katie Jarvis in Fish Tank (2009)
    Katie Jarvis in Fish Tank (2009)
    Rebecca Griffiths in Fish Tank (2009)
    Katie Jarvis in Fish Tank (2009)
    Katie Jarvis in Fish Tank (2009)
    Katie Jarvis in Fish Tank (2009)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Katie Jarvis
    Katie Jarvis
    • Mia
    Michael Fassbender
    Michael Fassbender
    • Connor
    Kierston Wareing
    Kierston Wareing
    • Joanne
    Rebecca Griffiths
    • Tyler
    Carrie-Ann Savill
    • Tyler's Friend
    Toyin Ogidi
    • Tyler's Friend
    Grant Wild
    • Keeley's Dad
    Sarah Bayes
    • Keeley
    Charlotte Collins
    • Tall Dancing Girl
    Kirsty Smith
    • Dancing Girl
    Chelsea Chase
    • Dancing Girl
    Brooke Hobby
    • Dancing Girl
    Harry Treadaway
    Harry Treadaway
    • Billy
    Syrus
    • Tennents the Dog
    Alan Francis
    • Free Runner
    Ben Francis
    • Free Runner
    Jack Gordon
    • Billy's Brother
    Jason Maza
    Jason Maza
    • Billy's Brother
    • Director
      • Andrea Arnold
    • Writer
      • Andrea Arnold
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Katie Jarvis, who plays Mia, had never acted before this film. A casting director spotted her having a fight with her boyfriend at a train station and offered her the role.
    • Goofs
      As Mia is leaving the dance audition, she passes a mirrored wall and the cameraman and his equipment is clearly reflected.
    • Quotes

      Tyler: [buries face in Mia's abdomen] I hate you!

      Mia: [tenderly] I hate you, too.

    • Connections
      Featured in The Rotten Tomatoes Show: Daybreakers/Leap Year/Youth in Revolt (2010)
    • Soundtracks
      Me & U
      Performed by Cassie Ventura (as Cassie) featuring Sean 'Diddy' Combs (as Diddy) & Yung Joc

      Written by Ryan Leslie

      Published by Aspen Songs

      Administered by Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd

      Licensed courtesy of Warner Music UK Ltd

    User reviews145

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    10/10
    An exhilarating dance of liberation
    The poet Rumi said, "A rose's rarest essence lives in the thorn." The thorn is in full evidence in Andrea Arnold's compellingly honest second feature Fish Tank, the story of a fifteen year-old girl's struggle for self respect after having "grown up absurd" in the London projects. Fish Tank, a film that is overflowing with life, works on many levels – as a look into squalid economic and social conditions in small town Britain, as a warning to those who act impulsively and without self-control, and as a coming-of-age story that allows us to experience a genuine sense of character growth. Winner of the Jury Prize at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, the film features an astounding performance from first-time actress Katie Jarvis, a 17-year-old who was discovered by the director while having an argument with her boyfriend on an Essex train station platform.

    Set in a bleak housing project in a working class London suburb, fifteen-year-old Mia is an angry, isolated but vulnerable teen who lives with her boozy mom (Koerston Wareing) and little sister Tyler (an adorable Rebecca Griffiths). Mia has no friends and is dogged by a mean-spirited mother who makes Mo'Nique in Precious look like Mother Teresa. Filled with barely controlled rage, Mia seems uncertain as to whether she is looking for a fight or for sex. She goes from head-butting a rival on the playground to struggling to free a half-starved horse tied up in a junkyard while cozying up to the horse's owner Billy (Harry Treadway), a gentle 19-year-old who seems genuinely interested.

    Dreaming of becoming a dancer, Mia breaks into an abandoned apartment and practices her hip-hop dance routines alone to borrowed CDs of pop music including California Dreaming, the only time when she can feel good about herself. Mia's first taste of something resembling kindness happens when her mother brings home a sexy, shirtless Irish lover named Connor (Michael Fassbender) who works as a security guard Fassbender's performance oscillates between the charming and the shady and we do not know who is real and who is pretend and where it will lead. Mia has more than a passing interest in him, revealed by her deep glances and facial expressions.

    When Connor lends Mia his camera to film her dancing in preparation for an audition, she uses it to spy on Connor and her mom making love. One of the loveliest scenes is when Connor carries a drunken Mia from the living room and puts her to bed, gently taking off her clothes while Mia, pretending to be asleep, sneaks an occasional peak and is obviously enjoying the moment. Although Connor's interest in Mia appears innocent, from the time Mia cuts her foot on a family fishing trip and Connor gives her a piggy back ride to the car, tension gradually builds until it explodes in a seduction that is not only inappropriate but has serious consequences.

    Fish Tank is a strong and unpredictable film because Mia is a strong (though flawed) character who refuses to allow her miserable circumstances to control her life. Arnold uses the fierce slang of the streets, overt sexual encounters, and gritty hand-held camera-work to tell an authentic story of adolescence that in lesser hands might have recycled genre clichés, provided a falsely uplifting message, or offered a sentimentalized view of poverty. That the film opens the door long enough to provide a breath of fresh air once again tells us that life can be governed by what is possible rather than what is reasonable and Fish Tank, instead of becoming another sordid study of pathology, becomes an exhilarating dance of liberation.
    helpful•92
    17
    • howard.schumann
    • Mar 28, 2010

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • September 11, 2009 (United Kingdom)
    • Countries of origin
      • Netherlands
      • United Kingdom
    • Official site
      • BBC Films (United Kingdom)
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Câu Chuyện Về Mia
    • Filming locations
      • Mardyke Estate, Rainham, Essex, England, UK(Mardyke Estate has since been renamed "Orchard Village" and substantially rebuilt or demolished)
    • Production companies
      • BBC Films
      • UK Film Council
      • Limelight Communication
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $3,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $374,675
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $25,854
      • Jan 17, 2010
    • Gross worldwide
      • $2,404,300
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      2 hours 3 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.33 : 1

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