The things they say...Fish Tank

http://www.dose.ca/Review+Fish+Tank/2586681/story.html

Connor is played by Michael Fassbender, who deserves a paragraph, not to say a movie, of his own. From his searing portrayal of Bobby Sands in Hunger to the easy command he showed as the Nazi impersonator with a bad accent in Inglourious Basterds, Fassbender dominates movies with a dark charisma, and he makes Connor into a man both likable and dangerous. He's at the centre of Fish Tank, even when he's absent.

http://www.thesimon.com/magazine/articles/consumables/01654_the_ghost_writer_killer_thriller.html

Mia (Katie Jarvis), the 15-year-old girl at the heart of the film’s story, lives with her drunken mother and nagging younger sister, and then a roguishly handsome man (played brilliantly by Michael Fassbender) starts dating Mom.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20100218/fish_tank_100219/20100219?hub=EntertainmentV2

Then, suddenly, like manna from heaven, Mia lands a truckload of attention from her mother's new boyfriend, Connor (played with leering, studly perfection by "Inglourious Basterds'" Michael Fassbender).

Now, here's a father figure -- and I say that loosely -- who goes out of his way to encourage Mia to pursue her dancing dreams and be her own woman.

Yet, for every "Go, girl!" this comely security guard utters to Mia and her sister (Rebecca Griffiths) a lascivious look hangs upon his mug. The more time he spends with Mia, the more she feels it -- and us, too.

In fact, Fassbender's nuanced play between caring and come-ons is so electric that moviegoers can feel the chills shoot up Mia's spine as Connor wins her over.

The more these two connect, the more Arnold makes us feel for this raw, aching, desperate kid and the danger that looms near.

For all her impenetrable street smarts, we, at least, worry for this kid. It's almost all we can do not to yell at the screen, "This guy is an opportunistic jerk. His lust has nothing to do with parental love."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/fish-tank/article1472814/

Connor (Michael Fassbender) seems a genuinely decent guy. He has a job, a car and kind words for Mia, who isn’t above pilfering his wallet but who also, in this premature winter of her young life, can’t help basking in those rays of kindness. What follows is this: Having used her handheld camera to credibly convey the setting, Arnold slowly ratchets up the suspense, which revolves around the single looming question – in his dealings with Mia, is Connor truly paternal or just another predator in polite disguise?

Working that mine of ambiguity, Fassbender does a superb job keeping us guessing.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/theticket/2010/0219/1224264773411.html

The latest slice of dreamy naturalism from Andrea Arnold, director of the searing Red Road, follows the deeply peculiar relationship between a troubled Essex teenager (Jarvis) and her mother’s latest boyfriend (Fassbender). The performances are all first-rate and Robbie Ryan’s camera casts a strange beauty on the most horrid vistas.

http://bnowalk.blogspot.com/2010/02/fish-tank-seaweed-is-always-greener.html

Enter the studly, consistently brilliant Michael Fassbender, her mother’s new boyfriend and a family figure who shows Mia kindness. Things ensue.

http://www.inklingsnews.com/archives/4562

Newcomer Katie Jarvais plays Mia, a troubled 15–year–old girl who finds an interest in her wicked mother’s new boyfriend, Connor, played by Michael Fassbender. Fassbender, who is coming off his newfound fame from “Inglourious Basterds,” gives a strong performance as a seemingly Mr. Nice Guy who has more than a few flaws.

Jarvais and Fassbender are among other great performances such as Mia’s mother, played by the excellent Kierston Wareing.

http://www.thedailyaztec.com/tempo/dandy-versatile-discs-film-doesn-t-settle-for-cliches-1.2169341

Granted, “Fish Tank” did not receive any Oscar nods, yet this over-dramatic film still would be the perfect formula for an Academy Award, with strong performances and a non-family friendly plot.

Fassbender is convincing as an empathetic father figure, but hides the fact that he has another family. Connor almost makes the movie more relaxing — until the tension between him and Mia grows stronger.

http://www.atomicpopcorn.net/fish-tank-movie-review/

The passages of the film that deal with this older man carrying on an affair with a young, underage girl are, indeed, challenging ones. We see the film from Mia’s eyes however, so the initial outrage is lessened but the tragedy and sadness of it all is magnified. Arnold knows what she is doing here, and she pursues onward, giving Jarvis and Fassbinder scenes together that are emotionally difficult and intensely dramatic.

Fassbender is great too. He’s made Connor into a man who feels totally real and grounded, and his disarming air of charm makes it harder to wrap our heads around what he truly is. He doesn’t play a stereotype or a one note expansion of a trait, but a credible person and that somehow makes him all the more sinister.

http://www.popsyndicate.com/site/story/fish_tank/

Michael Fassbender as the mother’s boyfriend does an incredible job of provoking sympathy from an audience that is sometimes repulsed by his actions.

http://antagonie.blogspot.com/2010/02/one-lost-soul-living-in-fish-bowl.html

There's a plot to give away, and I'll refrain from doing it, but really Fish Tank is in its soul a character study: watching Mia struggle with her rapidly evolving self-identity as she tries to find some tiny measure of happiness, whether it comes in the form of practicing for a dance competition, or crushing hard on Connor (as well she might: after proving his talents beyond a shadow of a doubt in Hunger and Inglourious Basterds, Fassbender now gets to show off that he's gorgeous, too), despite also kind of viewing the older man as a brother/father figure.

It is necessary that Jarvis should be the key element of the cast, although everyone is good (even Griffiths, failing entirely to be a precious little brat-child), and Fassbender in particular gives another in his chain of miraculous performances that should be triggering his major period of stardom right about...

http://lt-green.blogspot.com/2010/02/your-own-personal-cinema.html

That is, until her mother hooks up with Connor (the red-hot Michael Fassbender, who, like Daniel Craig in his indie days, exudes a charm that will soon be swept into a multiplex near you).

http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=15788

Her blunt life takes a subtle turn, though, when she meets Connor (the great Michael Fassbender, who was so hauntingly magnetic in Steve McQueen's unforgettable Hunger) one morning in her kitchen. He's her mother's latest fling, but something about him piques Mia's interest. For one, she's visibly curious about the shirtless fist of a man standing in her kitchen. But he's gentle and understanding where her mother is abrasive and dismissive. He takes an interest in her dancing. He takes her, Joanne, and her sister out for a drive in the country. He lets her borrow his video camera to record a dance audition. He becomes the father figure/big brother Mia might not have even know she craved.

http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?sid=7&aid=506&dir=2010/February/Friday26

At home in their flat, Number 75, her young mother, Joanne Williams (played by Kierston Wareing), has taken on a new lover, the dashing and self-possessed Connor (an excellent and smooth Michael Fassbender).

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20100226/ENT/702269969

And she brings her actors into the gritty reality of the milieu. We might expect that from Michael Fassbender, who did impressive work in the very different worlds of “Hunger” and “Inglourious Basterds.” It takes nerve to play a weak but charming man who ought to know better, and Fassbender doesn’t distance himself from this guy.

http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_14464623

Mia's mood changes when her mother's latest boyfriend, Connor, appears. Michael Fassbender makes an easy and welcome presence. Connor is comfortable with the surly energy coursing through the apartment. He's not daunted by Mia's volatile behavior.

http://dtmmr.wordpress.com/2010/02/27/fish-tank-2010/

Fassbender is very good here as Connor, who rides a thin line between encouraging her and flirting with her, and most of the time he’s on screen will make you feel safe, sometimes. The film really does get under the skin of this girl, so not only is it about her but people as well.

Consensus: Fish Tank doesn’t achieve dramatic greatness, but with enough strong metaphors about life, a moving coming-of-age story, and powerful performances from Jarvis and Fassbender, it does get pretty high up there.

http://www.artscriticatl.com/2010/02/film-review-the-award-winning-fish-tank-a-dive-into-british-trailer-trash-life/

There is a sort of Prince Charming in the person of Connor, mom’s new boyfriend. Played with a fantastic mix of paternal charm and boyish sexiness by Michael Fassbender (of “Hunger” and “Inglourious Basterds”), Connor is the first person in a while who seems to actually see Mia, and care what she thinks.

http://www.dailyfilmdose.com/2010/03/fish-tank.html

When the hunky Michael Fassbender, playing Connor, enters the picture, suddenly the skies clear and we as the audience get caught up on Mia's love struck haze.

http://www.playbackstl.com/movie-reviews/9428-fish-tank-ifc-films-nr

Mia has two methods of escape from her no-prospect life—she enjoys dancing, specifically hip hop-style dancing, which she practices alone in an abandoned building and secretly hopes to make a career of, and also her mom (generally referred to in the movie by her first name, Joanne, as if she and Mia were sisters) brings home a new boyfriend named Connor (rising star and excellent actor Michael Fassbender, who you perhaps recognize from Hunger or Inglourious Basterds, and who here looks remarkably like Matthew McConaughey, maybe because he wanders around half the time without a shirt) who serves as something between a crush and a father figure for Mia.

While Fish Tank isn’t completely flawless (Mia’s trying to free a tied up horse is far too transparent a metaphor), its excellent handling of the complex relationship between Connor and Mia (or Connor and Joanne, or Connor and Tyler, for that matter) makes it stand out, as do the performances by Jarvis and Fassbender.

http://www.rantrave.com/Rave/Film-Review-Fish-Tank.aspx

Fassbender plays his part wonderfully, showing off his character's flaws but always keeping it right on the edge of something sympathetic. As we find out more about him, some of the poor decisions are given context - though the actual implications for what he will do in the future might only sink in well after you've left the theater and cause you to wonder about any sympathy you felt during the film.

http://stlouiseats.typepad.com/st_louis_eats_and_drinks_/2010/03/fish-tank.html

And then Joanne, who seems to often follow a night of drinking by bringing a man to the house, brings Connor (Michael Fassbender). Unlike many of her late-night companions, he seems like a rather kind, caring person, and his acting is flawless and with fine range (he was the English movie critic in "Inglorious Basterds" and will portray Rochester in a new "Jane Eyre" next year). In a lovely scene, he takes all three of them fishing, though I think a journey in an automobile with that trio of harridans would be more than a person could stand.

http://kamcnally.blogspot.com/2010/03/film-review-fish-tank.html

Michael Fassbender, with a pre-Hollywood role, was magnificent also making you believe him and trust in him alongside with Mia which is also essential to that turnpoint scene that rocks your belief system. I'm looking forward to all of his future work and hoping that he keeps that emotion and, well, 'real' acting while he runs along the Hollywood train.

http://www.austincinephile.com/2010/03/09/you-wont-want-to-look-away-from-this-fish-tank-2009/

Things do seem to pick up for Mia as the film progresses. She gets a callback for a dance audition, and, perhaps more thrillingly, her mother brings home a new beau, played by matinee-idol-in-training Michael Fassbender, fresh off of great performances as IRA martyr Bobby Sands in Hunger and a British film critic turned secret agent in Inglourious Basterds.

http://longroadmediaissues.blogspot.com/2010/03/fish-tank.html

Mia herself is a wannabe dancer, and when she's trying out some moves in the kitchen one morning, her mother's new boyfriend ambles in half-naked, looking to put the kettle on. This is handsome, charming Connor, outstandingly played by Michael Fassbender,

The performances of Jarvis and Fassbender are outstanding and their chemistry fizzes — and then explodes.