Mia (Katie Jarvis) hopes there's more to life in FISH TANK
FISH TANK (Andrea Arnold, 2009)
BAMcinematek
30 Lafayette Ave. between Ashland Pl. & St. Felix St.
Thursday, January 7, 7:00
718-636-4100
www.fishtankmovie.com
www.bam.org
Writer-director Andrea Arnold follows up her brilliant, harrowing feature debut, 2006’s RED ROAD, with the brilliant, highly perceptive, and emotionally gripping FISH TANK. Katie Jarvis, a seventeen-year-old discovered by Arnold while the girl was arguing with her boyfriend on a train station platform, had never acted before and was not a dancer, but Arnold cast her in the lead role of Mia, a fifteen-year-old troubled kid who dreams of becoming a professional hip-hop dancer as her only way out of her drab life. A loner quick to curse and fight, Mia lives with her mother, Joanne (Kierston Wareing), who loves to drink and party, and her little sister, Tyler (Rebecca Griffiths making her acting debut as well). When her mother starts dating Connor (Michael Fassbender), Mia soon turns to him for help and advice, but their relationship threatens to grow much too close and far too dangerous. Arnold shot the film in chronological order, giving each actor only parts of the script at a time, so virtually every scene of FISH TANK feels fresh and genuine, with natural, believable actions and reactions. While Wareing and Fassbender (HUNGER and 300) are excellent, the film belongs to the remarkable Jarvis, who will break your heart over and over again. BAMcinematek will be hosting an advance screening of FISH TANK on January 7 at 7:00, followed by a Q&A with director Arnold and star Fassbender. The film, which won the Jury Prize at Cannes, opens at the IFC Center and Lincoln Plaza on January 15.