{"id":433830,"date":"2026-02-19T08:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T08:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/433830\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T08:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T08:52:09","slug":"wasteman-review-brutal-prison-drama-is-a-showcase-for-david-jonsson-one-of-britains-most-exciting-young-actors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/433830\/","title":{"rendered":"Wasteman review \u2013 Brutal prison drama is a showcase for David Jonsson, one of Britain\u2019s most exciting young actors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Your support helps us to tell the story<\/p>\n

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n

Your support makes all the difference.Read more<\/p>\n

Keep your eye on David Jonsson<\/a>. The 32-year-old actor has built up a steady momentum<\/a>, transmuting his brief stint on HBO\u2019s finance drama Industry, one of the UK\u2019s most productive talent factories, into a wide array of big-screen roles: a winsome romcom lead in Rye Lane (2023), a stammering synthetic in Alien: Romulus<\/a> (2024), and a tortured idealist in the Stephen King adaptation<\/a>The Long Walk (2025). It\u2019s already an impressive CV, yet it feels like Jonsson is on the precipice of something major. If you see him in Wasteman, you\u2019ll understand why.<\/p>\n

Cal McMau\u2019s debut takes the well-worn path of prison dramas, focusing on a violent feud waged between cell block bunkbeds. But there\u2019s enough of a noxious stink in the air \u2013 the sense that all the system does is create a microcosm of the state, with even less power to scrap over \u2013 that Jonsson has the material he needs to fully mesmerise. He finds poetry within the brutality, his eyebrows turned upward like hands in prayer, his sentences all half-swallowed by his own tongue. He can act as nervous as a mouse, but the resilience is always there; the survivor\u2019s drive.<\/p>\n

Here he plays Taylor, the kind of guy who is easily chewed up by the prison system, a recovering Subutex addict sentenced to 13 years for one horrible mistake. He\u2019s told, all of a sudden, that he\u2019s eligible for parole. It\u2019s not for anything he\u2019s achieved; they\u2019re just trying to free up the place a little. But it does mean he might finally see his son, a 14-year-old who doesn\u2019t even remember his face. All he has to do is stay on his best behaviour. Enter Dee (Tom Blyth<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Taylor\u2019s new cellmate turns up bellowing Tony Bennett\u2019s \u201cThe Good Life\u201d, with blood on his sweatshirt collar and a crazed look in his eye. He\u2019s a swaggering archetype saved by the small touches of grace in Blyth\u2019s performance<\/a>. It makes him a far more interesting sparring partner for Jonsson\u2019s character.<\/p>\n

But Dee has come to hustle, dealing in tuna cans, deodorant, and, most importantly, illegal substances, much to the chagrin of the prison\u2019s top dogs, Gaz (Corin Silva) and Paul (Alex Hassell). Shivs at the ready. Blood will hit the concrete floor before the week is over. There\u2019s some tidy, clever narrative work in Hunter Andrews and Eoin Doran\u2019s script; more gripping, perhaps, than illuminating on its subject.<\/p>\n

\"DavidDavid Jonsson and Tom Blyth in \u2018Wasteman\u2019 (Lionsgate)<\/p>\n

But cinematographer Lorenzo Levrini lights these cells hauntingly, chilled blue like purgatory instead of hell on earth, and the camera starts to rattle around during every punch-up like it\u2019s attached directly to the characters\u2019 fists, taking the occasional direct hit of spit or spitted blood. It feels immersive without feeling crushed by its own style, even with McMau\u2019s frequent intercutting of phone footage \u2013 there\u2019s a suggestion here that the surveillance instituted by the jailers is being happily replicated by the jailed.<\/p>\n

You can certainly feel those eyes on Taylor, who\u2019s damned if he acts, even more damned if he doesn\u2019t. It\u2019s an overwhelming burden for a man to carry. And with Jonsson doing the carrying \u2013 well, we feel every pound of its weight.<\/p>\n

Dir: Cal McMau. Starring: David Jonsson, Tom Blyth, Corin Silva, Alex Hassell, Neil Linpow. Cert 18, 90 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u2018Wasteman\u2019 is in cinemas from 20 February<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":433831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[96,2839,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-433830","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-movies","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=433830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/433831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}