Wasteman

The miniseries Adolescence caused a sensation last year and won a number of awards. It's a truly powerful, dark, and highly topical portrayal of troubled young minds and a family falling apart in real-time. Producer Philip Barantini (who also directed Adolescence) is also behind the British prison drama Wasteman. I love films and series set in prisons, where among my favourites are The Green Mile and the superb HBO series Oz, which I still regard as a true top series. It's a bit unclear how it holds up these days, though and I'll readily admit that I haven't rewatched it since I binge-watched all the seasons twenty years ago.

As for what Wasteman is about, it follows Taylor, a man on parole, whose hopes for a fresh start are jeopardised by the arrival of his cellmate, Dee. When Dee takes Taylor under his wing, a brutal attack puts their bond to the test and forces Taylor to choose between protecting Dee and his own chances of release.

David Jonsson and Tom Blyth, up to no good.

A couple of months ago, I read a review - or an excerpt from a review - in which a critic regarded Wasteman one of the absolute best prison dramas since The Shawshank Redemption. Those may not have been the exact words, but that sums up the gist, as statements like that rarely get me excited. If anything, they have the opposite effect, a bit like when the 2016 remake of The Blair Witch Project was called fantastic and terrifying, and the actual release wasn't fit for such comparisons.

But back to Wasteman. The film is directed by debutant Cal McMau and the cast includes Tom Blyth (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes) and David Jonsson (The Long Walk, Alien: Romulus). It's a gritty, dark, and raw film, just as you'd expect. It's well-acted and stylish, but despite its short running time, it actually takes a while before I'm really drawn into the world. I find it a bit hard to put my finger on exactly why, but there's something a bit off about the way the plot is constructed, where you're thrown straight into the thick of it, and I don't feel you're given enough context, at least not at the start. It takes a while for the right feeling to set in, though I do understand the tactic of plunging us straight into the grey daily life of the prison.

Jonsson is superb in the lead role.

It finds its feet, builds up, and I'm prepared to forgive a lot when it's this well-made, but it's only after the halfway point that I really get drawn in and feel emotionally invested. At times it gets really nerve-wracking and anxiety-inducing, and you feel for Taylor when it really feels like everything is slipping through his fingers. Wasteman is, at its core, a really good film and the ingredients are there, but another thing that bothers me is that I feel the violent scenes are edited in a very jarring way.

Perhaps it deserves a second viewing at a later date, with fresh eyes and a different perspective? After all, I have several examples of films I didn't particularly like on first viewing, only to fall head over heels for them once I'd watched them again. I like Wasteman, perhaps mostly thanks to Jonsson's superb acting, but it wasn't quite what I expected and perhaps I'm being a bit harsh, but I'd hoped to feel... something more, quite simply.