This powerful coming of age story offers the sort of visual feast not often associated with social realism. But the camera here positively bleeds the poetry of the mundane. Director Andrea Arnold is less interested in the raw sparks of burgeoning sexuality than in the raw edge of desperate living bringing the same dangerous atmosphere that permeated her brilliant Red Road to the story of fifteen year old Mia. Mia lives in a lower class poverty with her mother and sister and tensions are already boiling. When her mother's impossibly roguish boyfriend becomes part of the picture motives and loyalties become even more blurred. Katie Jarvis and Michael Fassbender own this film but they are in the service of a startling new talent who never loses sight of the profound risk of dreaming big as a storyteller or an artist. Her characters transcend class by being transcendent spirits but their breakthroughs come at a cost.
The transfer, which is absolutely luminous, was approved by New high-definition Arnold, director of photography Robbie Ryan, and editor Nicolas Chaudeurge. Also included here are Arnolds short films: Milk (1998), Dog (2001), and the Oscar-winning Wasp (2003), video interviews with actors Kierston Wareing and Fassbender as well as audition footage, a stills gallery and the original theatrical trailer. The booklet features an essay by film scholar Ian Christie
This movie was a big surprise for me and I would like to recommend it to anyone. It's one of the best movies of 2010.
I didn't like it at first but wound up appreciating it greatly after watching this Bluray edition. What ever happened to the Criterion column?
Fish Tank was really good, sounds like I need to get the Blu-Ray.