Recently Watched: Fish Tank

"Fish Tank" is a slice of what it's like to live in Essex, England. All the kids are "street," listening to American hip hop, dancing in the street, swearing etc. A really young girl uses the "c" word frequently, but hey they are working class, riiiight!? Her older sister, who is played by Katie Jarvis takes the lead role. Jarvis was discovered by the director when she was having a fight with her boyfriend at a train station. I can see why she was chosen. She plays teenage aggression quite naturally.

The film is a coming of age story of sorts. Jarvis is living in a single parent home with her younger sister and within the first few minutes of the film it's understood that she has some behavior issues. Her mom isn't very supportive and talks down about her. Enter Michael Fassbender, her mothers new boyfriend. He takes interest in the kids and a bond starts to form. A series of kind of awkward sexual events occur (she hears/sees her mom and Fassbender together, he

spanks her when they are rough housing and she dances for him..) until it all builds up, blows up and falls apart. I think the relationships in the movie are pretty human, Fassbender is no good guy savior role... he comes in with his own problems and the turn out is surprising.