Fish Tank

Theatrical Release Date: 2010 01 15 (USA - Limited)

UPC: 715515065016

Studio: Criterion

MPAA Rating: NR   Contains:[Not For Children, Profanity, Sexual Situations]

Summary: A mother and daughter find themselves locked in an ugly battle over the same man in this drama from writer and director Andrea Arnold. Mia Williams (Katie Jarvis) is 15 years old and lives in a shabby apartment block with her mother, Joanne (Kierston Wareing), and younger sister, Tyler (Rebecca Griffiths). Mia is a reckless and rebellious teenager who frequently argues with her mother and sister and has run afoul of the authorities at school, leading to her being suspended. With plenty of time on her hands, Mia spends her days drinking when she can find alcohol and partying in a empty flat near her apartment. Joanne is a single mother, and she's begun dating a new man, Connor (Michael Fassbender); when Joanne brings him home to meet the girls, Mia is immediately attracted to him, and it's soon clear Connor feels the same way about her. Mia attempts to seduce Connor to take him away from her mother, and when she succeeds, Joanne's greatest anger is not with the man who has slept with her underaged daughter, but the girl who is now a rival for the affections of her lover. Fish Tank was an official selection at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: Film Presented – Cannes Film Festival Film Presented – Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Film Presented – Toronto International Film Festival Film Presented – AFI Fest Film Presented – Chicago International Film Festival Best British Film – British Academy of Film and Television Arts Best Independent Film – National Board of Review

Features: Director-approved digital transfer, with dts-hd master audio soundtrack
Three short films by director Andrea Arnold:
Milke (1998), Dog (2001), and the Oscar-winning Wasp (2003)
New video interview with actor Kierston Wareing
Audio conversation with actor Michael Fassbender from 2009
Audition footage
Stills gallery by set photographer Holly Horner
Original theatrical trailer
Plus: a booklet featuring an essay by film scholar Ian Christie

Fish Tank

Format: Blu-ray

Release Date: 02/22/2011

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Pre-1954 Standard

Audio: DHMA null

Runtime: 122 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Region: Blu-ray region A (North America, Central America, South America, Japan, Taiwan, North Korea, South Korea, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia)

Derek Armstrong

If Fish Tank had been made ten years earlier, it would have been directed by Lynne Ramsay and starred Samantha Morton. That's a sizable compliment to both writer-director Andrea Arnold and star Katie Jarvis, though Arnold may not need the additional boost -- her first feature, Red Road, had already won the jury prize at Cannes, and she made it two for two when Fish Tank walked away with the same award. Acting newcomer Jarvis, on the other hand, is an unexpected revelation. She brings the soulful eyes and spitfire attitude of a young Morton, in a more wiry frame, to the central role of Mia, a rebellious teenage girl who's sort of looking for a father figure and sort of looking for a lover in a housing project in lower-class Essex. Mia finds that candidate in her mother's boyfriend, played by the breakout star Michael Fassbender. Amid Mia's chaotic world of physical scrapes and yelling matches, Arnold documents that budding relationship with a tenderness that makes you hope it's the paternal bond she needs, but secretly fear it's the carnal bond she wants. The film's unwavering commitment to truth leaves the former outcome unlikely and the latter a near certainty. Where the relationship goes contains shocking surprises that take your breath away. Jarvis is simply astonishing, etching one of the more unforgettable portraits of chip-on-the-shoulder toughness mixed with teenage vulnerability, and Fassbender has a smoldering chemistry with her that's independent of sexual attraction, born of two talented performers connecting amid a sea of narrative bleakness. Arnold pulls off a difficult feat here, presenting the audience with one disappointing sample of human weakness after another without actually making us feel glum. Perhaps it's just that filmmaking as good as Fish Tank should leave a spring in the step of any serious film fan. ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Kees Kasander  Producer 
David M. Thompson  Executive Producer 
Paul Trijbits  Executive Producer 
Nick Laws  Producer 
Andrea Arnold  Director 
Andrea Arnold  Screenwriter 
Christine Langan  Executive Producer 
Michael Fassbender  Actor 
Rebecca Griffiths  Actor 
Katie Jarvis  Actor 
Sydney Mary Nash  Actor 
Harry Treadaway  Actor 
Kierston Wareing  Actor 

Country: UK