Starred Up, 2013.
Directed by David Mackenzie.
Starring Jack O’Connell, Ben Mendelsohn and Rupert Friend.
SYNOPSIS:
When a young man is ‘starred up’ (moved from juvenile holdings into a full blown prison environment) and winds up on the same wing as his father, he must learn what must be done to protect himself.
On the surface, Starred Up looks to be just another prison movie. Violent in trailers and sold as the next best British movie (with all that that phrase implies), it screams down and dirty men in cells staring long and hard at each other before someone stabs someone else with something.
As easy as a prison shower joke would be to tell right now, that would be taking away from both the seriousness and the quality of Starred Up. Unafraid of its DNA in respect to past prison dramas and all the elements that come with that family, it adds to the mix with both a different kind of character and a reality to the young man in prison that has been missing from some dramas.
Jack O’Connell as the young man Eric, the one who is starred up and put into an environment he only thinks he knows, gives a wonderfully multi-faceted performance. Much has been said about the physicality of the performance, and his presence easily matches anyone else on screen, but what makes it deeper is the vulnerability given off during quieter moments. Starred Up is all about the embarrassment and shame felt by these prisoners, and the characters we focus on all seem to have issues with any moments of humiliation in any form.
It all comes together in therapy scenes. Writer Jonathan Asser worked in prison as a therapist for many years and its obvious which character acts as his surrogate. Oliver (Friend) gets willing prisoners in a room and encourages them to get worked up and to use the aggression to work through their issues. While it starts to seem a bit clichéd when it comes to a new form of therapy being hated by every worker besides the therapist himself, it takes on a turn that reveals the therapist is as damaged as his group. Rupert Friend, at once a calm under pressure sort, quickly shows a violent streak as well as his own shame.
As well as the fantastic dynamics on show between characters, with top performances from everyone involved, the film visually works quite well. Giving off the confined feeling that matches being imprisoned in a small cell, David Mackenzie and cinematographer Michael McDonough pile the pressure on to the point that your eyes will either be unable to tear themselves away from the screen or you’ll be watching from behind your hands.
The ebb and flow is perfect. At no point does the story move too quick or slow, and at the end of it all you don’t want it to end. The production values, the editing, the cuts from one story to another, they all add up to a flawless movie that while being set in the dregs is hopeful. While it offers little to no chance of Eric getting out of prison, as well as leaving his father Neville (Mendelsohn) in an unenviable position, Starred Up is somehow strangely uplifting and depressing at the same time. It’s a movie you have to see, and will leave you speechless at its finale.
Flickering Myth Rating: Film ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Matt Smith – follow me on Twitter.
Originally published August 8, 2014. Updated April 12, 2018.
