Interested in hearing what people think of this film particularly given Dissensus' London bias. Really appreciated it (the bleakness of the film means that it's hard to ENJOY it) but be interesting to hear people's opinion on how accurate a picture it paints of life out East (and I'm not talking Dalston...)
Fish Tank
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IdleRich
IdleRich
I watched this yesterday. Pretty solid I thought with good performances all round - particularly from the youngsters. I didn't find it particularly bleak, possibly because the way that the main character was so likable and the dialogue was so sharp prevented it being a misery-fest although when you look back at what actually happened there isn't too much there that isn't depressing.
What was the thing with the dancing? Was she supposed to be good, or maybe just about good enough to get an audition at some provincial club? If so it's kind of cruel to make it so that the one thing that for her seems to offer some kind of way out is - unspokenly - something she aint that good at.
What was the thing with the dancing? Was she supposed to be good, or maybe just about good enough to get an audition at some provincial club? If so it's kind of cruel to make it so that the one thing that for her seems to offer some kind of way out is - unspokenly - something she aint that good at.
re: the dancing. I didn't think she was supposed to be good or that dancing was what she had for going for her. I think it was a dream that turned out to be false when she realised the club promoters just wanted her to strip down and show off her 15 year old body. The fact that she refused was her redeeming moment. This and her genuine concern for the horse were portrayed as her positive qualities as a person and what she really had going for her. Well that's how I saw it anyway.
IdleRich
IdleRich
Yep, that's pretty much what I thought. But she wasn't really better than anyone else and she thought she was and that's what I thought was a little cruel.
Not totally sure about this though. These are good qualities of course but I don't think that her character necessarily needed redeeming. I thought that in general she was a fairly balshy but generally nice person, a victim of circumstance (of course) more than anything else.
it's a hard knock life I 'spose
yeah redeeming's probably the wrong word. You basically said what I was trying to get at
IdleRich
IdleRich
Yes I suppose so but I think that in the rest of the film the disappointments are made explicit whereas in this bit you are invited into her dream with her and left with the choice of deciding for yourself whether or not it can ever happen. This made it that bit sadder for me somehow.
Cool, though come to think of it I reckon it should be "bolshy" shouldn't it rather than "balshy"?
doubting her reveals our own poverty of hope perhaps
had to look up the correct spelling myself.
[spoiler alert]
On another note, the shot near the end of the helium balloon floating away from the estate I took as a neat metaphor for Mia herself leaving and the fact that helium ballons ultimately burst and fall back to the ground as a grim omen for her fate. Very pessimistic I know.
IdleRich
IdleRich
I don't think so 'cause she aint that good at dancing and surely she's not meant to be.
Sounds plausible to me.
Speaking of near the end, what's that scene about when she starts dancing with her mum and sister and it's like a music video or something? Very odd in a film which mainly relies on being very naturalistic, that scene is reminiscent of the dance scenes at the end of Inland Empire - especially with the comedy view of the dog's head moving back and forth between them - it's a really, extremely odd sequence, presumably deliberately so. That bit really takes you out of the film - I'm not sure why it's there. Not criticising, I'd just like to know the motive behind it.
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crackerjack
Well-known member
It should indeed, or even bolshie. I wouldn't mention it, but I know what a stickler you are
She was better than the girls in the playground. It's not that she was great, but her dancing was the one thing she seemed to have some small confidence in herself. Most of all, it was her release - alone with her bottle in that empty flat, away from her nightmare mum.
I thought it was unbelievably bleak - think I must have misread one of the reviews, which I remembered as saying paedophilia was hinted at, but never happened, which pretty obviously isn't the case. Also the 'upbeat' ending wasn't very upbeat at all - just one smashed hope after another. I like her taste in early 90s hip hop, though.
crackerjack
Well-known member
IdleRich;204634 Speaking of near the end said:
IdleRich
IdleRich
I thought her mum was great.
Dunno why I keep harping on about this though - I think it's because it was on of the bits where the film confounded expectations, any (or most at least) other film she would have been amazingly brilliant and here, not only wasn't she, but it didn't tell you that either and left you wondering if you were missing something or not.
Yeah but it was shot so strangely that it seemed surreal - the dog looking back and forth reminded me of the one out of the Churchill adverts.
crackerjack
Well-known member
In what sense? Slapping her daughter down whenever she opened her mouth, and often when she didn't?
crackerjack
Well-known member
yeah, ish, but she looks like she's overdone the lip surgery
scottdisco
rip this joint please
proudly colluding in lowering the tone
Kierston Wareing?
wow. utterly yum imo.
she was in Loach's one about illegal immigrants being exploited in the UK wasn't she, It's a Free World...
Kierston Wareing?
wow. utterly yum imo.
she was in Loach's one about illegal immigrants being exploited in the UK wasn't she, It's a Free World...