Expert Grimness

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We're all struggling to get over and break through into something or some realm that will make us feel happier or less miserable. Teenagers, of course, struggle and suffer the most, at least in their own heads. I went through emotional hell from age 13 to 18, and the only thing good about it, looking back, is that I grew past it. It could've killed me but it didn't.

Katie Jarvis in Andrea Arnold's Fish Tank.

I know that if a gifted filmmaker had made a study of this period in my life and turned it into a two-hour drama, the result would most likely have been depressing. This kid is a near-goner, film critics would say. Smart and loves movies, but no hunger or vision or interest in building his life into something. Defined mainly by anger at his father and partying with his friends.

But I had, at least, caring, literate, well-off parents of good character who instilled a disciplined approach to living and working, and who kept urging me to stay focused, etc. My life eventually panned out but it was definitely touch-and-go for a while, largely due to effects of my father's alcoholism (which, to his credit, he eventually dealt with by joining AA). We all have our sad tales to tell, but God help the kids out there now with issues like mine but who have dreary parents with self-absorbed attitudes, or are growing up in bad-influence, trash-culture neighborhoods in which everyone is just going through the motions.

The central question in any teenage-struggle drama is not just "do you believe in the reality of what this kid is going through?" but "does this kid have some ace in the hole that might save him/her?" Because if they don't -- if it's just cigarettes and booze and rage and kicking around with no end-game in mind, and with no mentor in sight -- then it's hard to emotionally engage because you know (or strongly suspect) where this kid is headed.

You don't have to believe that a kid might get lucky and pull through somehow -- not every hard-knocks drama has to end with a sense of hope or salvation -- but there's something in all of us that pulls back when we see a slow-motion tragedy in progress. It becomes a kind of dull horror story -- interesting if the director is a gifted observer and has a good eye, but only in spots and spurts because the central issue has been all but decided.

Arnold (l.) and Fassbender at this morning's Fish Tank press conference -- 5.14, 11:35 am.

This is more or less the case with Andrea Arnold's admirably tough and grim Fish Tank, which screened this morning in the Grand Lumiere. It's about Mia (Katie Jarvis), an angry 15 year-old who loves to dance but has no support system of any kind. She lives with an all-but-worthless mom and a plucky kid sister in a dirty and cluttered apartment in a low-income British hellhole. (The film was shot in Kent, England.) And you just know she ain't goin' nowhere, barring some miracle.

So this is basically a female Billy Elliot with no hope, no shot, no Julie Walters to teach and encourage, no father willing to break his back in order to pay for his son's education at a London arts academy, no Marc Bolan singing "I Love To Boogie"....none of that. (Well, okay, there's a cut of "California Dreamin'" by...crap, I've forgotten his name.) Fish Tank is extremely well captured with a powerhouse performance by Jarvis, but it's all about the shit end of the stick.

The story is about how Mia gets it in her head that her mom's new boyfriend, a handsome, good natured security guard named Connor (Michael Fassbender), may have a bit of what she needs. A friendly smile, a kindly attitude, a positive paternal-ish influence. And for a while he seems like a good thing, especially with his encouragements about Mia's dancing, which he says is "great." But then you know what happens. And if you can't guess you need to think harder.

The grimness in Fish Tank is, I think, vaguely similar to the mood and material in Tony Richardson's The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner. Tom Courtenay played an angry resentful teen who winds up in a borstal for thievery, but his ace in the hole -- i.e., being a good long-distance runner -- is used to deliver a jolting dramatic turn at the finale, and one that said something profound about nihilism among working-class youths of the early '60s. Fish Tank's story never even begins to build into anything remotely similar. It pretty much stays in the pit from start to finish.

The chops in Fish Tank are accomplished and impressive. Arnold, who directed and wrote, knows exactly what she's doing -- she's the real deal as far as having a voice and a vision of life is concerned. I liked that she and cinematographer Robbie Ryan shot the film in 1.33, which is usually a result of an intention or a deal to air it on analog TV. Fassbender, a very hot guy now, is natural and believable, charming and genuine. Ryan's hand-held camera work is unpretentious and the images are appropriately plain -- i.e., naturally lit but not excessively grim.

It feels right all the way, in short, but it didn't leave me with much save the quality of the work. It didn't so much remind me of how I felt at that age as much as return me to that mindset with even grimmer circumstances. I was angry but Mia is so furious she's close to emotional idiocy.

Note: It was announced at the press conference that Jarvis isn't in Cannes due to having had a baby last weekend.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on May 14, 2009 at 4:22 AM

comment #1

BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey says ...

You don't often see Kent described as a "low-income British hellhole". Happen to know what town in particular? Usually Kent is thought of as a cushty "garden of England" suburbian paradise for middle-class twats in mock-Tudor mansions who drive BMWs and watch Top Gear.

I'll be interested to see this. Love a bit of British grimness to remind me of home. I hope it contains at least a smidgen of humour though. That's why Shane Meadows films are so great - often quite gloomy subject matter, or at least featuring characters who are somewhat stuck in a rut, but done with a wink and a chuckle to balance it out.

If I have one complaint of the Red Riding trilogy (which you should get hold of, Wells - you'd enjoy it) it's that perhaps it's too unrelentingly grim and does somewhat paint Yorkshire as a hopeless, desperate place. It's actually quite funny in Yorkshire.

The best counties are Yorkshire and Lancashire.

Posted by BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey at May 14, 2009 6:24 AM

comment #2

BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey says ...

Was it set in Margate, perhaps?

Posted by BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey at May 14, 2009 6:31 AM

comment #3

actionman says ...

Sounds like a lovely, uplifting little film. I keed...I keed...this is somethng I'd rent from Netflix.

Posted by actionman at May 14, 2009 6:52 AM

comment #4

Rich S. says ...

A little off topic, but I can remember Anthony Burgess being upset that Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange ended before the last chapter of the book.

The last chapter, which wasn't included in American editions until decades after the book's initial release, shows Alex calming down and getting bored with the whole "in-out-in-out" and ultraviolence primarily because...he grows up and grows out of it.

Kubrick, of course, was trying to make a different point with the film, but I always thought this insight into the story was fascinating.

Posted by Rich S. at May 14, 2009 6:53 AM

comment #5

kingofnails says ...

Andrea Arnold's short film WASP is a knockout. Her feature debut RED ROAD is good not great -- a touch derivative and predictable. Still, looking forward to this. Sounds solid.

Posted by kingofnails at May 14, 2009 7:21 AM

comment #6

Sabina E says ...

I will always have a soft spot in my heart for British films like this. It sounds intriguing.

Posted by Sabina E at May 14, 2009 7:32 AM

comment #7

joncro says ...

'middle-class twats in mock-Tudor mansions who drive BMWs and watch Top Gear.'

my god clarkson is a twat

Posted by joncro at May 14, 2009 7:55 AM

comment #8

BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey says ...

He's a special kind of bellend. Americans seem to like him, not realizing that he's close to being the British version of Rush Limbaugh in many ways.

I hate those tossers in Essex, Kent and Surrey. All wearing McLaren baseball caps as they cheer on Lewis Hamilton and read the Daily Mail.

Posted by BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey at May 14, 2009 8:06 AM

comment #9

BurmaShave says ...

Rich S., A CLOCKWORK ORANGE is that rare example of a film that is so much better than the book. Burgess created this perfect sociopath but then clearly had no frame of reference and included the completely false copout ending. Stanley knew better. I was cured, alright.

Posted by BurmaShave at May 14, 2009 8:26 AM

comment #10

Rich S. says ...

Oh, I agree, Burma. If Clockwork Orange isn't my favorite film, it's in the team picture (I love dystopia movies). But I read an interview with Burgess in, I think, Rolling Stone, around the time the complete edition was released in the U.S. where he explained how he set up the book.

If I remember correctly, he designed it to have three sections of 7 chapters each. First section dealt with Alex running wild. Second section dealt with prison and rehabilitation. Third section dealt with Alex's reintroduction into society. The original American edition for some reason left off chapter 21.

I think Burgess' point was that the government didn't have to go through all the dehumanizing reconditioning because, ultimately, most hoodlums grow out of their antisocial tendencies. Like you point out, kind of a simplistic and boring resolution. But it does provide a nice counterpoint to Kubrick's take.

Posted by Rich S. at May 14, 2009 9:18 AM

comment #11

joncro says ...

he'll be a tory mp in 5 yrs........ bet on it

Posted by joncro at May 14, 2009 12:32 PM

comment #12

hunterd says ...

Insert praise of Larry Clark movies.

Posted by hunterd at May 14, 2009 12:41 PM

comment #13

BurmaShave says ...

Speaking of Larry Clark, how does everyone feel about him remaking MONA LISA with Mickey Rourke and Eva Green?

Posted by BurmaShave at May 14, 2009 1:27 PM

comment #14

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