Fish Tank

Fish Tank (2009) is Andrea Arnold's British social-realist drama, available to watch online on iFILM. Fifteen-year-old Mia lives on a rough Essex estate, kicked out of school and at war with her mother, her neighbours, and pretty much everyone. Dancing alone in an empty flat is the one thing that feels like hers.

Then her mum brings home a new boyfriend, Connor, played by Michael Fassbender in the role that helped launch his career. He's warm, attentive, and treats Mia like she matters. She's drawn to him in ways she can't name, and the warmth curls into something neither she nor the audience is prepared for. Katie Jarvis, whom Arnold reportedly spotted arguing on a train platform with no acting experience at all, carries the whole film with raw, unsettling honesty.

Shot handheld in a boxed-in 4:3 frame that hems Mia in like glass walls, the film took the Jury Prize at Cannes and the BAFTA for Best British Film. No score, no easy comfort, no tidy ending. If you go for the unflinching realism of Ken Loach, this one's for you. Stream Fish Tank (2009) online on iFILM.