Fish Tank

Village Voice by

Jarvis gives a ferociously persuasive performance in an otherwise routine tale of domestic disaster.

Salon by Andrew O'Hehir

Absolute dynamite.

The New Yorker by David Denby

Fish tank may begin as a patch of lower-class chaos, but it turns into a commanding, emotionally satisfying movie, comparable to such youth-in-trouble classics as "The 400 Blows." [18 Jan. 2010, p. 83]

New York Magazine (Vulture) by David Edelstein

Arnold's first feature, "Red Road" (2006), centers on another outsider, a woman who monitors security cameras. The film is formally brilliant, but it doesn't have the breathtaking openness of Fish Tank.

Time Out by Keith Uhlich

A grimy kitchen-sink melodrama with an Ajax cleanser script: The muck is all surface, the turmoil cleanly shallow and contrived, though never less than gripping.

Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum

The amazingly natural first-timer was discovered, in a gift of publicity-ready truth, while having an argument with her boyfriend at a train station.

The A.V. Club by Noel Murray

In that way, Jarvis is a lot like Arnold: an artist who knows the steps, but doesn't yet have all the moves.

The Hollywood Reporter by Ray Bennett

The film belongs to Jarvis, however, and she makes the most of it with expressive features that convey Mia's mixed-up emotions from raging temper to sweet vulnerability. She will go far.