In 2009, director Andrea Arnold won the Cannes Jury Prize for Fish Tank. It is a film which is part of the Criterion Collection, an impressive collection of important classic and contemporary films. Fish Tank is a contemporary film on so many levels. It portrays real-life challenges that people deal with today. The film gears on anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem suffered by an adolescent growing up in a broken home where she is desperate for attention.

The film takes place in the projects of the United Kingdom. Mia (played by Katie Jarvis) lives an Essex Estate with her abusive, cruel, self-centered, and alcoholic mother along with her negative little sister. Due to Mia’s attitude and destructive behavior, she has been kicked out of school and is waiting to hear if she can go to an alternative school due to her explosive behavior. She continues to be a vocal and harsh adolescent that only sees more negatives than positives day-after-day. Mia finally starts to feel cared for when her Mom introduces her to new boyfriend, Connor (played by Michael Fassbender). Connor is as immature as Mia’s mother, but he is more welcoming and friendly than her. Connor starts to grow on Mia. However, after an inappropriate, intimate situation between Mia and Connor which Mia cherishes, her world starts to crumble even more.

Fish Tank shows that Mia wants to feel cared for, and the scenario between her and Connor crosses boundaries that are a red flag. Given, Mia already has a life where her mother does not care about her at all, she feels drawn to and connected with Connor. Mia is fifteen and Connor is twice her age. This leads Connor to want to disconnect from Mia and her mom due to the risqué scenario that he put himself in with Mia.  Throughout the movie, I felt like I was following Mia while she sought to resolve the conflict with Connor. The theme is dark, yet inviting, and the film portrays it well with dark cinematography where it is clear that Mia is only making matters more emotional for herself.

The film has a generous amount of realistic anxiety which the viewer feels watching Fish Tank. At one point when Mia is in a huge dispute with her mother (she is in a dispute in almost every scene with her mother), she screams “You’re what’s wrong with me!” That quote rings true to the Mia’s upbringing and the source of her harsh attitude. Viewers will find it obvious that she was not raised properly. Her mother is always drinking or dozing off into space, and whenever her and Mia talk, it turns into World War III. This shows why Mia is determined to feel connected to Connor (even though it is inappropriate). She feels he will care for her, but the film shows that this relationship has serious consequences.

Fish Tank is realistic filmmaking at its finest. The film accurately depicts the problems many adolescents from broken homes tend to face in today’s world. The film also shows that Mia has limited options when it comes to finding an escape to help better herself. She feels Connor can be that for her. Due to what she has lived with most of her life (being raised in a broken home with an abusive mother), she does not fully comprehend the consequences of her actions. Due to the film’s realism and effectiveness at showing a dire situation in a poetic way, I give Fish Tank three and a half stars.

While still in quarantine, I decided to watch the 2005 film directed by John Madden, Proof. I was set to see the play, but due to the COVID-19 was cancelled so I decided to watch the movie instead. The film is based on the play written by David Auburn and takes place in Chicago. I felt that watching a movie where Chicago is the main location would help me to feel more hopeful about returning to the city soon. The subject of Proof is challenging and enthralling. The film gears on scenarios related to mathematics and grief. Those two subjects cause tension to set in which reveals the film’s conflict. The questions that the main characters have do not seem correct or inaccurate based on the realizations they come across after the death of a father and genius math professor.

The main character is Catherine (played by Gwyneth Paltrow), and there was a point where she was driven and disciplined for academic success. This was all because her father, Robert (played by Anthony Hopkins), always pushed her to go beyond boundaries in terms of mathematical subjects and equations. He is a well-known and beloved professor of Mathematics at the University of Chicago. Catherine’s life hits a plateau when her father becomes sick and she withdraws from school to take care of him. She has plans to return to a prestigious school, but her motivation for success is paused after the death of her father. There are moments when they are in discussions (shown as flashbacks from when he was alive) about various subjects and other times when they are simply socializing. Catherine thinks back to those moments wishing she would have made better decisions before his death.

After his death, one of Robert’s former students, Hal (played by Jake Gyllenhaal) comes into Catherine’s life. Hal brings to her attention mathematical equations, proofs and theories which are genius and could lead to future brilliant publications. Catherine is hesitant about this at first, but then she discovers in one her father’s many notebooks of equations that she possesses similar or identical patterns to his writing and his thinking. This makes her realize she could have inherited the incredible mind of her father and she can choose whether to use it for her own success. The motivation for her is mixed because one side of her is motivated by her estranged sister, Claire (played by Hope Davis), to start a new life in New York. However, the other side of her may want to continue to do mathematics and figure out if she can solve life-changing theories like her father was able to. Catherine’s mind is blank with what to do because she feels that continuing to seek achievement through the eyes of her father will only make her feel more depressed, but she also feels she has already let him down so there can still be hope. Hal is the one who tries to encourage her to continue what her father started with the mathematical theories he had not completed.

I find Proof, the film, to be encouraging because it illustrates how one can live life for the better once a tragic scenario has happened. I felt that Catherine’s character had the opportunity to do better for herself if she continued life in the eyes of her father whose talent she inherited. The film’s moments of jumping back and forth from the past when her father was alive to the present time, gives viewers an idea of which scenarios play into her not being able to make a decision that seems right to her. The message is to not give up what one enjoys doing. Catherine is devoted to her mathematical skills and she does want to carry on the legacy of her father’s brilliance. Hal wants her to as well.

With Proof there may be theories that are revolutionary. Catherine may be able to solve them with the help of Hal, but with her father having passed, the motivation is a challenge. The film’s emotions are honest, faithful, and gripping. I found that there are moments of both satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Overall, the movie reminds viewers that life can be challenging and there is nothing wrong with struggling and wanting to get better. Catherine can get better if she puts her mind to it. I give Proof four stars.

Eliza Hittman is becoming one of those directors and writers gearing on films with issues related to young adults. She did so with Beach Rats in 2017 and does so again with Never Rarely Sometimes Always. The film begins with faded cinematography and lighting showing close-ups of Autumn’s (played by Sidney Flanigan as the lead actress) looks of aggravation, frustration, and confusion. The film has a heavy theme, but it is set quietly which helps viewers follow Autumn’s journey involving her stressful conflict. Never Rarely Sometimes Always holds many emotions and questions that are slowly answered as Autumn deals with an unplanned pregnancy.

Autumn is a seventeen-year-old high school student. She is not close to her parents.  There is unexplained tension and their communication is lacking. As the days go by, she is not feeling well, and then she realizes it is because she is pregnant. This is a portion of Autumn’s life where she feels she does not have the guts to talk to her parents about her situation or visit a clinic in her hometown in the state of Pennsylvania. The clinics in her state require parental consent for an abortion. This prompts her to go to New York with her cousin Skylar (played by Talia Ryder). In New York, the clinics do not require parental consent and that is the cousins go on this difficult journey to find a resolution for Autumn. The downside is they set out on this trip with little money and not much knowledge on what they can afford. Most of the money they have is required for Autumn’s procedure at the clinic which causes tension to slowly grow between the girls. Autumn is distraught with herself because she feels there is no other way to move forward unless she goes through with the abortion.

Never Rarely Sometimes Always spoke to me, because it shows how important it is to have communication and support when facing unplanned situations. The scenarios where Autumn and Skylar realize they have no money shows that they are still too young to navigate conflicts without the help of a parent or an adult guardian. Director Hittman shows a clear depiction of how Autumn’s brain is not developed enough to take on life-changing challenges (which is also shown in many scientific studies). Never Rarely Sometimes Always makes us ask ourselves if Autumn is going to be alright and also makes viewers hope she will be. Unfortunately, she is just someone who made a mistake and is not a bad person, but just wants to feel she is loved.

Never Rarely Sometimes Always has a heavy theme, but I thought it was done right. It was not made to be overly depressing by throwing many more irreparable consequences in with the main conflict. It only had the one conflict of the unplanned pregnancy and the difficult journey in which Autumn had to make a challenging decision. At the film’s conclusion, I wondered what was in store for Autumn based on her actions and I was left asking myself if her decisions were the right ones.  Overall, believe Never Rarely Sometimes Always deserves three and a half stars.