Andrea Arnold’s debut feature length film Red Road was a MovieNight hit in May 2007, and we had been waiting to see this one since it won the Jury Prize at Cannes last May. Fish Tank won critical acclaim, but a lot of viewers reviews (these days, anyone can express their opinion online… even me!) were scathing. The featured review on IMDb was entitled, “Fish Tank… it stank.” I can only assume that it’s a cultural thing. We watched it the week before screening, and concluded that this (not quite perfect) flick was excellent MovieNight fare. We’re not afraid of a little grit around here, are we? Apparently you agreed. I had to give up my very own personal bar stool at one point!

You may have heard that the hitherto unknown young lead, Katie Jarvis, was discovered by Arnold having a heated argument with her boyfriend on the platform of a train station. One can only imagine the sort of language… Arnold found the courage to introduce herself, and the rest is history, as they say.