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"Gritty prison drama" is usually a dog whistle for either a
tumbledown redemption story or the human equivalent of disaster porn.
But the main elements of gritty British prison drama Starred Up
are tedium, sudden violence and a queasy sub-intestinal suspense that
offers neither climax nor release—just the constant sense that the guy
in your face will either fuck you up or kiss you or make you an offer,
and that all are equally likely. David Mackenzie's film is neither
inspiring nor particularly gratifying, but it has a quality particularly
unusual in prison movies: It feels true. It centers on Eric Love (Jack
O'Connell), who's "starred up" from juvie to adult prison because of his
propensity for extreme violence, which we see again and again,
sometimes in excruciating detail—for example, when he clamps his teeth
down on the johnson of an officer who sheepishly admits his name is
Johnson. All notions of "redemption" are moot, despite the best efforts
of an anti-authoritarian prison counselor and his own flawed dad—who is,
of course, also in the prison. But while not at all sympathetic,
O'Connell makes his bulldog of a character something much more
compelling. He's a boy who careens between beating a guy over the head
and sudden vulnerability, and who has no particular hope for anything
better but makes a stubborn show of living. He's an asshole. But he's
our asshole. And this film, more than any in recent memory, makes you
feel that very keenly.
Critic's Grade: A-
SEE IT: Starred Up opens Friday at Cinema 21 and Living Room Theaters.
WWeek 2015