Fish Tank and The Girl on the Train

Well, 2010 has gotten off to a good start with two films that I saw today. I will say a few words about each of them. I still have two more 2009 films (The Last Station and The White Ribbon) to see and then I will make up my best of 2009 list. I will see the films within the next two weeks.

Fish Tank, directed by Andrea Arnold is a powerful film about a young teenager named Mia Williams (Katie Jarvis). Mia lives in a council flat with her boozy mother Joanne (Kierston Wareing) and younger sister Sophie (Charlotte Collins). Oh, and they have a dog. Mia does not get along with her mother and most of the kids her age don't like her - and the feeling is mutual. She always seems to be getting into trouble. Her life changes when her mother's new boyfriend Connor (Michael Fassbender) starts coming around and eventually moves in. He treats Mia like a real person and she starts falling for him.

I don't want to say more about the plot. You will have to see the film if you want to find out more. I can say that Arnold is a terrific director. I loved her previous film Red Road and her Oscar winning short Wasp. And Fish Tank is on the same level. It is a real slice of life and these people do exist. Arnold truly knows how to portray the working class. All of the acting is spot on. Wareing and Collins are both very good. Jarvis is marvelous. It is hard to believe that she is not a professional actress (I would guess that now she is). And Fassbender is one of the best new actors working today.

Fish Tank pulls no punches. All of the talent involved is outstanding. I can't wait to see what they all do in the future.

Edit - As much as I liked this film I did not like the scene with the fish. That is the animal protector in me.

While not up to Fish Tank's standards, The Girl on the Train is still worth seeing. One reason is because I have always liked director Andre Techine's films. And two is because of the actors. Emilie Dequenne plays Jeanne, a troubled young woman. Jeannie lives with her mother Louise (Catherine Deneuve) in a suburb of Paris. She is trying to find a job but, in all honesty) is not trying hard enough. Louise spots an ad for a secretary in the paper. It so happens that lawyer Samuel Bleistein (Michel Blanc) is looking for a secretary. Bleistein is an old friend of Louise and her late husband (and an admirer of Louise's). He is very well known and speaks out about the growing anti-semitism in Europe. Jeanne has an interview with Bleistein's ex daughter in law Judith (Ronit Elkabetz) which doesn't go well.

In the meantime, Jeanne meets Franck (Nicolas Duvauchelle) an aspiring wrestler wh falls for her at once. After a short time they move into the home of a friend of Franck's. They are house sitting but things aren't what they seem. I won't tell you what happens but I will say that events cause Jeanne to make up huge lie. She tells the police that several men molested her on a train. They mistook her for a Jew and did certain things to her. It was a big story but it was not true. Besides these characters we have Bleistein's son Alex (Mathieu Demy) who is divorced from Judith and their son Nathan (Jeremie Quaegebeur).

Techine's directing is very good. I liked all of the actors (especially, Dequenne, Deneuve, Blanc and Elkabetz). And the story is quite interesting. The film doesn't go into the depths of anti semitism that is spreading throughout Europe. We don't really find out why Jeanne did what she did. And we don't come to any definite conclusions about Bleistein and his family. But it doesn't matter. Despite some flaw The Girl on the Train holds your attention and makes you think. And that is what matters.