Analysis of Fish Tank


Fish Tank is a British movie that was released in 2009. Written and directed by Andrea Arnold, the film fits into the drama genre, but has themes of poverty, isolation and pedophilia. The plot insists of a teenage girl named Mia who lives in East London with her mother and younger sister. Her life changes when her mum starts a relationship with a man who does is not like the family in any way. The plot is very thought provoking at times and it is very realistic in a sense that scenarios like this could (and might have) easily happen in real life. The setting of the film greatly affected the story as the whole area was poverty-filled and poor. The goal of the movie could have potentially been to raise awareness about child pedophilia or getting too close to people who you aren't familiar with. The characters felt very real and gave off the impression of people that you would meet in your every day life, which makes the aftermath of the film seem even more shocking. The main actors in the story (Katie Jarvis-Mia and Michael Fassbender-Conor) where amazing at making their characters exactly what they should be.

The direction of the movie became increasingly more uncomfortable as the movie went on, however it was a great way in which the story was unraveled and then completely torn apart toward the end. The film wasn't really paced too fast or too slow, but most of the time, every scene was an important one. The music was very good in this movie as it linked strongly to the plot. The music that Mia danced to played a part in her personality, and more importantly, "California Dreamin'" played a big part in the movie too as it was the song that Mia used for her audition at the strip club and it is probably the main thing in the film which could be regarded as the memorabilia and linkage between Mia and Conor. The film did a good job of not overusing music like many other films (like Marvel movies) do. The cinimatography in the movie was dull and gloomy for the most part which was great at giving the audience the correct impression of the area that it was set in. There were some good shots of showing just how terrible the estate was too. 


The costume designing for the characters was good as most of the clothes seemed pretty cheap and worn down (once again to do with the area tat it is set in). The movie feels extremely working class or lower and the costumes are a great way of expressing this. There were essentially no special effects in the film which made it feel raw and agonisingly real. In the same respect, the editing was very simple and didn't really try to be flashy at any point in the movie as it didn't need to. 

Comments

  1. Coulsdon A Level Film and Media21 February 2018 at 22:06

    You start well with genre and themes Jo you discuss the mise en scene, sound and editing (even though you may not label them correctly. Going forward try and look more into the production elements of the film, budgeting, funding etc. and discuss the history and future of the key creatives involved in the production.

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