‘I don’t want to get involved in all this. I meant to be getting out…’
My absolute worst nightmare would be to end up in prison. The thought of it makes me feel sick. And so, films set in prison will always hold a visceral power over me. Wasteman, from first-time director Cal McCau, is a very modern portrayal of the British prison system. Sure enough, it’s terrifying…
Taylor (David Jonsson) is on the verge of being released from prison, having served a 13-year sentence. His imminent release is jeopardised, however, when he is assigned a volatile new cellmate in Dee (Tom Blyth), a violent lunatic.
I’ve no idea how accurate Wasteman is, but Jesus, does it make prison seem grim. The combination of freely accessible drugs, sudden violence and never-ending tedium is an explosive one, and the film, anchored by a pair of excellent performances from Jonsson and Blyth, is defiantly entertaining even in its thematic darkness. It should also be noted that Jonsson is establishing himself as one of our finest actors. If you take his performance in this and put it next to the same performances he delivers in Industry and The Long Walk, it is clear that this is an actor with serious range. I predict an Oscar sometime in his future.
While there is little to set Wasteman apart from the many other prison movies and TV shows out there (it shares more than a little DNA with Jimmy McGovern’s prison anthology show, Time), the sheer talent involved here is enough to make it stand out from the pack. A solid directorial debut from newcomer Cal McCau.
