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"Director: Andrea Arnold Screenwriter: Andrea Arnold Starring: Katie Jarvis, Kierston Wareing, Michael Fassbender, Rebecca Griffiths, Harry Treadaway Running time: 107 mins Certificate: 15  Movies featuring untrained and first-time actors in the lead roles are not new. Larry Clark directed one of the most iconic, with his cast of New York youngsters lending 1995&amp;#039;s Kids added visceral realism, were any needed, as well as launching the careers of Chlo\u00C3\u00AB Sevigny and Rosario Dawson. Andrea Arnold&amp;#039;s second Cannes Jury Prize-winning picture presents teenage newbie Katie Jarvis as Mia, a truculent, mouthy 15-year-old with a love of dancing, drinking and little else. Over the course of the film, Mia&amp;#039;s life is turned upside down with the arrival of Connor (Michael Fassbender), the new boyfriend of her wannabe evergreen mother Joanne (Kierston Wareing). It&amp;#039;s not an easy ride. The opening minutes boast several uses of the word &amp;quot;c***&amp;quot; from underage actors, before Mia cleanly headbutts one of her peers after some outdoor verbals. Much of the film seems to be shot with a handycam chasing Jarvis as she jogs from place to place in her tracksuit bottoms and hoodie, giving the movie a gritty and slightly frantic feel. Anyone attempting to replicate the Withnail &amp;amp; I student pastime by matching Mia drink-for-drink would swiftly end up hospitalised as she knocks back cans of beer, neat vodka and - of course - a giant bottle of white cider. That said, the language, style and desolate suburban backdrops are always appropriate and never seem tacked on. Despite having the trappings of an instructive social drama, Fish Tank is less a film about the harshness of life on the other side of Essex and more an exploration of the complexity and turbulence of human relationships. Mia&amp;#039;s association with her ex-schoolmates is neatly summed up with the violence of the opening scenes. Her interactions with younger sister Tyler (the frequently scene-stealing 12-year-old Rebecca Griffiths) are an awkward mess of swearing and misexpressed concern. Even Mia and the household dog, the aptly-named Tennants, don&amp;#039;t seem to be the best of friends. Most stark is her relationship with her mother, a woman who acts as though her children are at best an inconvenience and at worst fledgling Electras out to destroy her. &amp;quot;I almost had you aborted. I even booked the appointment,&amp;quot; is a line that can ring in the mind long after the final credits roll. The men don&amp;#039;t really help matters. Connor is introduced walking in on Mia dancing to the television and announcing himself with the line: &amp;quot;You dance like a black... I mean that as a compliment.&amp;quot; Their relationship twists and turns into a heady mix of quasi-fatherly love and confused sexual tension that at times resembles a cross between Lolita and The Jeremy Kyle Show. Caravan-dwelling Billy (Harry Treadaway) seems kind, but not nearly sharp enough to form a meaningful bond with a character as complex and lost as Mia. The strength of the script and the direction throughout is surpassed by the skill of all the lead performers, and especially Jarvis, who elevates what would have been a good film to something very special indeed. The only mistruck note is a ten-minute sequence towards the end, where secrets are revealed and everything goes a little too far, but by then there&amp;#039;s enough credibility and belief in the characters&amp;#039; emotions that the excesses can just about be excused.  &amp;gt; What do you think of the movie? Share your views "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/review/a176206/fish-tank/>