It’s a mixed blessing for Taylor (David Jonsson) as soon as Dee (Tom Blyth) shows up in “Wasteman” as his new cellmate, lining what available space there is with snacks as if he were stocking a Tesco. The food isn’t really for anyone’s consumption inside the prison cell, but rather collateral that can keep any fellow inmate at bay so Dee can play his video games on the system he brought along with him too, likely leaving Taylor unbothered as well. The timing isn’t ideal when the last thing Taylor wants is any uncertainty as he approaches potential and unexpected parole, but Dee is about as good as one could wish for in the next bunk at such a facility where a candy bar is worth its weight in gold and everyone has hair-trigger tempers.
A slight suspension of disbelief may be required to overlook how easy it is to smuggle in goods in “Wasteman,” but writers Hunter Andrews and Eoin Doran come up with a shrewd premise that justifies nearly everything in the taut prison drama when overpopulation has led to the parole board considering an early release for those with lesser offenses like Taylor, who was implicated in a pair of deaths because of some bad drugs he dealt, and an overworked staff turns a blind eye to anything that they won’t be brought up on criminal negligence charges themselves for. That’s how a battle intensifies between Dee, who it turns out isn’t just selling candy when drones regularly drop off stronger medicine to window of their cell, and Paul (Alex Hassell), a rival who has long ruled the roost with his cellmate Gaz (Corin Silva) for an enforcer, begins to find that his business is slowing down. When Taylor has long stayed on everyone’s good side by cutting hair and keeping his own drug habit at bay with the pills he receives from Paul for compensation for a shave and a haircut, he finds himself in the undesirable position of being a middle man as things turn violent and he’s expected to broker a peace when he’s already got one foot out the door and any effort could jeopardize his exit.
First-time feature director Cal McMau doesn’t pull any punches in any sense of the term when “Wasteman” opens with a man’s head being put through a television, but putting real muscle into the drama that follows as well, pacing around in tight spaces with the incarcerated characters with the prowess of a prize fighter as if a fight is about to break out at any moment. He has two heavyweights for leads in Jonsson and Blyth, who show off impressive range on top of considerable charisma as Taylor and Dee, societal castoffs who have shown through surviving on their wits that they shouldn’t have been written off and could’ve had a different trajectory if they were provided a better path to begin with.
Jonsson, in particular, delivers a riveting turn as the soon-to-be parolee who’s careful to take chances anywhere in his life, trying desperately not to give into the violence that surrounds him as both Paul and Dee start to demand it from him and he feels some obligation to both when they’ve offered protection in the past. He has additional incentive to make it to the outside when he obtains a cell phone from Dee to make contact with a son who was still a baby when he was locked away. The “Long Walk” star conveys so much emotion with his eyes alone that for all the brutality that McMau depicts, it is more devastating to see his reaction. (For his part, the director’s novel inclusion of cell phone footage, an inherently harsher aesthetic, throughout as the prisoners keep records of their attacks as a way of warning others in the future is unnervingly efficient.) Ironically when everyone in “Wasteman” is looking for a fresh start, the talent behind it is boldly announcing themselves as a next wave and the film is bound to have a ripple effect by thinking outside the box in every respect.
“Wasteman” does not yet have U.S. distribution. It will next screen at the BFI London Film Festival on October 16th at 8:45 pm at the Vue West End and October 17th at the Curzon SoHo Cinema on screens 2 at 8:45 pm and 3 at 9 pm.