Like the milieu in which they\u2019re set, prison movies can be terribly constricting. Often focusing on well-worn themes of masculinity, regret and redemption, they feature (and sometimes indulge) rough-hewn portrayals of tortured characters suffering through physical and emotional tumult. Inherently compelling but also a shade predictable, the genre promises a tantalizing glimpse at a terrifyingly macho world \u2014 one that most of us are fortunate not to know firsthand.<\/p>\n
Cal McMau\u2019s feature directorial debut hardly reinvents the formula, but it does remind audiences what remains so sturdy about the premise of an ordinary man trying to stay alive behind bars. And thanks to the latest impressive turn from rising star David Jonsson, \u201cWasteman\u201d even finds a few new notes to play within a familiar stark melody.<\/p>\n
Jonsson is Taylor, who has been serving 13 years in a U.K. prison for a drug deal that went tragically wrong, leading to an accidental death. Soft-spoken and overly accommodating, the young man mostly wants to avoid trouble, allowing himself to be bullied by cell-block thugs Paul (Alex Hassell) and Gaz (Corin Silva) while offering to cut their hair in exchange for the pills that fuel his addiction. Taylor has learned to go along to get along, existing in a zombie-like state from the perpetual high he chases.<\/p>\n
But Taylor\u2019s stasis is interrupted by the news that he may be granted early parole. (The overstuffed U.K. penal system needs to shed nonviolent prisoners to make room for dangerous offenders.) Longing to reconnect with his estranged teenage son Adam (Cole Martin), Taylor can see the light at the end of the tunnel \u2014 until the arrival of Dee, his new cellmate.<\/p>\n
Played by a snarling, coiled Tom Blyth<\/a>, Dee swaggers whereas Taylor shrinks. Seeing his new home as his kingdom, Dee quickly becomes the prison\u2019s chief supplier of whatever you need \u2014 sneakers, candy, drugs \u2014 while ferociously asserting his dominance. (Early on, Dee slashes a fellow inmate\u2019s face, recognizing him as someone who once ran with a rival crew.) Taylor adapts to the volatile situation as he always has, serving as the unthreatening beta, eventually earning Dee\u2019s trust and friendship. Soon, Dee takes an interest in Taylor, ordering his lackeys on the outside to give Adam gifts that they claim are from his dad.<\/p>\n \u201cWasteman\u201d introduces this odd-couple scenario and then waits for their fragile coexistence to rupture. Accustomed to being the prison\u2019s top dogs, Paul and Gaz don\u2019t take kindly to Dee invading their turf, resulting in an escalation of tension that puts Taylor\u2019s parole at risk. But if much of \u201cWasteman\u201d follows an expected trajectory, the film\u2019s conception of Taylor proves thornier than anticipated.<\/p>\n Although probably best known for the HBO series \u201cIndustry,\u201d<\/a> Jonsson has demonstrated a dazzling range over a short period of time, including acing romantic dramas (\u201cRye Lane\u201d<\/a>) and dystopian thrillers (\u201cThe Long Walk\u201d<\/a>). But what unites his diverse roles is the sense of a sensitive, intelligent actor who constantly makes us wonder what he\u2019s thinking.<\/p>\n Jonsson\u2019s silences always seem to say so much and in \u201cWasteman\u201d he capitalizes on his reserved demeanor and smaller frame to create a character who is much less frightening than those around him. Unlike Dee, he\u2019s no hardened criminal, merely a guy who made one stupid mistake to financially support his child, and \u201cWasteman\u201d initially encourages viewers to sympathize with this delicate soul who\u2019s been thrown to the wolves.<\/p>\n Gradually, though, Jonsson complicates our feelings about Taylor. Equally desperate to be freed and to keep getting high \u2014 essentially escaping one prison while remaining in another \u2014 he slowly reveals himself to have little in the way of principles or ethics. When Paul and Gaz confront Dee, Taylor\u2019s response is so cowardly that it\u2019s pathetic, suggesting a spinelessness that bedeviled him long before he wound up in jail. The film presents Taylor as a kindly spirit, which turns out to be little more than calculated self-preservation. <\/p>\n Within the confines of a fairly conventional prison drama, McMau dissects an anonymous nobody who discovers that, both in prison and in life, there are consequences for not taking sides. Despite Dee\u2019s savagery, Blyth portrays Taylor\u2019s cellmate as loyal and honest \u2014 someone who believes in a personal code of conduct. The movie\u2019s bitterest irony is that, of the two men, it\u2019s ultimately Dee who may be more honorable.<\/p>\n McMau\u2019s attempts to amplify the story\u2019s grim authenticity occasionally fall flat. (Inspired by footage shot by actual inmates with contraband cellphones, the first-time director incorporates stagey inserts meant to re-create these intimate, graphic images.) He\u2019s on firmer footing exploring his two leads as they square off inside this smoldering crucible. Like Jonsson, Blyth hints at a whole universe inside his character simply by the way he quietly listens and observes. As Taylor\u2019s parole looms, the stakes grow. By the time \u201cWasteman\u201d reaches its ambiguous finale, our loyalties are far from clear-cut.<\/p>\n ‘Wasteman’<\/p>\n Not rated<\/p>\n Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes<\/p>\n Playing: Opens Friday, April 24 at Laemmle Monica Film Center<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Like the milieu in which they\u2019re set, prison movies can be terribly constricting. Often focusing on well-worn themes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":409639,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[193549,193545,6935,174926,193548,193544,146,878,193546,85,46,193542,193547,89695,193543,2057,40806,193541],"class_list":["post-409638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-british-prison-drama","tag-cal-mcmau","tag-character","tag-dee","tag-drug-deal","tag-early-parole","tag-entertainment","tag-film","tag-gaz","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-jonsson","tag-new-cellmate","tag-paul","tag-prison-movie","tag-taylor","tag-tom-blyth","tag-wasteman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/409639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}