Fish Tank (2009) on Netflix
Mia, fifteen, clashes with her mother Joanne and her little sister Tyler, and has fallen out with her friend Keely. Joanne's new boyfriend, Connor, notices her dancing.
- Netflix3.4/5
- IMDb7.3/1068,724 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes91%
Trailer
Plot summary
Fifteen-year-old Mia Williams lives with her mother, Joanne, and her younger sister, Tyler, on a council estate in East London. Expelled from school and at odds with her friend Keely, she spends her days dancing hip-hop alone in an empty flat in the block. At a Traveller encampment she tries to set a tethered horse loose and is chased off by its owners; the younger one, Billy, is less hostile. Connor, Joanne's new boyfriend, is charming and gives Mia his attention. He takes the family into the countryside, plays them his favorite song, Bobby Womack's "California Dreamin'", and teaches Mia to catch a fish with her bare hands. Mia is sharp with him and still seeks his notice. Connor encourages her to apply when a club advertises for dancers.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Fish Tank (2009)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Lead actress Katie Jarvis had no prior acting experience. A casting assistant for director Andrea Arnold spotted her arguing with her boyfriend at Tilbury Town railway station, the very station that later appears in the finished film.
- Fish Tank was shot in chronological order over six weeks, and the actors were only handed the relevant pages of the script as they went, so they did not know where their characters' story was heading.
- The film has no score at all; every piece of music heard is diegetic, meaning it is always songs the characters themselves are playing or listening to within the story.
- Location filming took place on London's Mardyke Estate in Havering, a housing estate that has since been partly torn down.
