'Wasteman': Impressively crafted and well-acted prison thriller

THE first decent prison film in a long while comes along in the shape of this thriller from director Cal McMau.

Shot on a modest budget in the summer of 2024, the film ultiises authentic real life locations, including the disused HMP Shepton Mallet.

Given the infamous reputation of certain English prisons, this makes sense for both practical and creative reasons.

If you’ve been a law-abiding citizen until now, this film will ensure you remain so.

It may be a genre that has been done so many different ways that you might think there is nothing left to say but it goes to show that solid execution and performances can ensure an end result that feels fresh.

Taylor (David Jonsson) is a man serving a 13 year stretch in prison for manslaughter.

A mild-mannered inmate keen to stay out of trouble, he works in the prison’s kitchen and cuts his fellow inmates’ hair in exchange for drugs.

He is essentially one of those people who may be in prison but really doesn’t belong there.

One day he is informed that he has become eligible for early release and will be a free man in a few months if he maintains good behaviour.

Taylor is elated, particularly because he will be able to see Adam, the 14-year old son he has not seen since he was an infant.

It all seems so simple until one day he gets a new cellmate in the form of Dee (Tom Blyth).

Charismatic and hot-tempered, Dee begins selling drugs and other items from the cell and he and Taylor form a tentative friendship. The new 'business' however does not go down well with other drug dealers on the prison wing (especially when Dee steals some of their supply from a drone) and a violent altercation ensues.

Though desperate to be a free man, Taylor finds himself being unwillingly drawn further into his cellmate’s schemes.

There have been plenty of gritty prison dramas over the years but there are few that you can take too seriously.

You might struggle to count them on one hand. Wasteman proves to be an exception to that long trend.

This is a movie that earns its grit, featuring a compelling, suspenseful story with genuine heft.

Told over the course of a lean, mean 90 minutes, the film doesn’t waste a second of its running time, nipping along at an immaculate pace.

Though there a few moments that might require you to suspend your disbelief; the story is largely grounded and realistic, touching on timely themes of prison overcrowding and crime among inmates.

For a claustrophobic story like this, it’s essential to have solid performances carrying the drama.

Thankfully the film benefits from excellent work from its two leads. Jonsson is on good form as the sympathetic Taylor.

It’s a subtle, understated performance, often saying more with his body language or a cursory glance than with the dialogue. Blyth is essentially the opposite as the larger-than-life Dee.

Though initially coming across as merely a loudmouth wideboy, he is gradually revealed to be so much more dangerous and Blyth does a striking job of slowly revealing the monster within.

Impressively crafted and well-acted, Wasteman is genre filmmaking at somewhere near its best.

RATING: ****

Matthew McCaul