How would the fish be masked The film convinced me that realism is different in cinema. You can fixate on some black woman and talentedly, in all the screaming fullness, present her in art-house packaging to the viewer. You can take an extremely detached position without focusing on anything at all. Andrea Arnold has chosen a middle ground - her realism is human. Every event, every action of the characters is designed to reveal to us the identity of the main character - 15-year-old Mia, becoming the absolute center of the film.
This approach turns out to be very effective - when watching, you catch yourself thinking that you not only fully understand this "difficult" teenager, but also sometimes predict Mia's actions, prompted and guided by almost every frame. In one scene, you realize that Mia feels false in the words of her mother’s lover and pushes him away, and in another, the whole atmosphere makes her believe in Connor’s sincerity. Katie Jarvis, who perfectly coped with the lead role, admitted that she became much better at understanding rogue teenagers like Mia.
Arnold's task is to open up a teenager, no matter how distant he may seem. This requires a sober look and the right distance. If you watch the characters from afar, you get Gus van Sant’s cold Paranoid Park. If you get too imbued with their problems, here's Lee Daniels' burning Treasure. Fortunately, in the best British film of 2009 there are no revelations of Mia, personal diary, etc. “Aquarium” is the case when the hero is in the center of perspective, but far enough to keep the secret in himself and remain interesting to us.
I think that the choice of the director of the most difficult and closed period of life - adolescence - is not accidental. For a good observer, even this time is enough to reveal a person. No matter how the fish disguised, it still swims in the aquarium.
A very strong scene - in which Mia joins her mother's dance to Nas' "Life's A Bitch" rap. Almost the only point of contact with the mother that Mia, I think, wants to love.
I never thought of Germanic when I watched it.
10 out of 10
Original