Fish Tank

Guardian“Mastery and fluency in the social-realist idiom...” Jarvis has given a wonderfully honest and open performance to be compared with David Bradley in Kes, or Émilie Dequenne in the Dardenne brothers' Rosetta. Her relationship with Fassbender is what gives the film its beating heart...

The Times“Fearlessly attuned to the primal female voice...” The endless roaming shots of breeze-block estates can seem like lazy visual shorthand for dramatic credibility in a superlative film that is otherwise awash with it...

The Independent“Its mood is one of anguish rather than nostalgia...” Fish Tank balances the urban against the bucolic, first in virtuoso shots of a tethered white horse by a motorway overpass, later in a long, heart-stopping, sequence that changes from suburban Tilbury to the ominous marshlands of coastal Essex...

The Telegraph“A distinctive new British filmmaker had arrived on the scene...” Arnold works wonders almost everywhere in this film: the drip-drop drabness of kitchen-sink drama is stilled, alive, and newly dangerous...

Channel4 Film“Eerie, haunting, strikingly shot...” A quietly intense, strikingly shot coming-of-age drama, Fish Tank establishes Andrea Arnold as a lyrical chronicler of marginalised Britain...

Empire“A social drama of cramped interiors and maladjusted lives...” A vivid portrayal of life at society’s margins with a compelling turn from newcomer Jarvis. Little wonder it scored at Cannes...

Little White Lies“Engrossing and brilliantly made British drama...” Doesn’t quite place Arnold in the ‘masterpiece’ leagues, but certainly puts her in the top three or four British filmmakers currently at work...

Total Film “It’s the estate of the nation...” A powerful, poignant and beautiful film, Arnold crafts Brit realism at its best. The title? Every fish wants to swim in the ocean. It’s just not always possible...

New York Times Movies“Not yet reviewed”

Variety“Assured direction and excellent perfs...” What makes pic feel special is its unflinching honesty and lack of sentimentality or moralizing...