Fish Tank

British director Andrea Arnold's second, award-winning feature is a raw, authentic coming-of-age drama, set squarely in the tradition of British kitchen sink realism.

Fifteen-year-old Mia Williams, who lives in a rough neighbourhood somewhere east of London with her licentious mother and younger sister, has been thrown out of school; she's bored and spends her days doing nothing, having one passion only: dancing. She and her mother don't get along that well. One day the handsome security guard Connor (Michael Fassbender) turns up, her mother's new boyfriend. With him, Mia does get along, maybe a bit too well. She finds herself facing a difficult question: Does she want to lead the same kind of live as her mother?

The unusual format, more square than rectangular, gives the film the claustrophobic feel of an aquarium, the "fish tank" in which Mia feels trapped — the difficult interim between girl– and womanhood.