Wasteman (2025)
Follows parolee Taylor whose fresh start hopes are jeopardized by cellmate Dee’s arrival. As Dee takes Taylor under his wing, a vicious attack tests their bond, forcing Taylor to choose between protecting Dee and his own parole chances.
directed by: Cal McMau
written by: Hunter Andrews, Eoin Doran
starring: Tom Blyth, David Jonsson, Alex Hassell…
Wasteman, a word that I still use often, is a gritty prison drama that straight away brought other media such as The Night Of (2016) and The Shawshank Redemption (1994) to mind soon off the bat. And although I found the plot somewhat predictable at points, I ultimately enjoyed the film, the acting and the visuals for what they were. A solid movie I’d say.
From the very beginning of the film, I could tell that it was going to visually be something to behold. Being that it was mostly set inside prison walls, I didn’t expect The Revenant (2015), but that didn’t stop me from being very much impressed. The colour grading, being the whites, greens and blues blended together to give a slightly less hostile touch than you would have gotten with grey concrete and silver steel. Several shots of characters smoking also caught my eye – most likely pertaining to the upward angle shot choice and natural lighting coming in throw one small barred-off window.
When it came to the acting, I thought David Jonsson did a solid job playing a man with a seemingly soft exterior but a couple layers of demons hidden under the surface which made a real onion of a character. Tom Blyth however, was just a real joy to watch. His portrayal of Dee was amazing. There are ways in which this type of character can be pretty predictable, and although he I did feel that he was, especially closer to the end, I was still very much surprised at his complexity. He had an attitude from the very start, sure, but it seemed like he also carried somewhat of an integrity to him, not willing to strike out at others unless disrespected.
On top of all the deep dark prison-life content on the surface of the film, I’d say that Wasteman also had a bit of a comedic element to it too. There were certain situations the characters were placed in which drew a few laughs, alongside Tom Blyth being a seemingly funny character (up to a point) in general. That especially went for his big entrance into his new cell, where he stacked one of the shelves with British confectionary, plastered the walls with pornographic posters and at one point, even brought in an air-fryer. I turned to the mate I went to cinema with to tell him that those guys seemed to be living better than me. At least when I was trying to survive back at uni.
When it came to the plot, I’d say I had a love-love me not relationship with it. Like I’ve already written, there were some parts, such as the inevitability of the two mains turning on one another and there being some sort of coercion, fairly predictable. I don’t know if that’s because it made that pretty transparent in the trailer, or if that’s just a common theme across these types of movies. I would have also have liked to explored the prison-dynamics a little further. There were some really entertaining scenes throughout this film, but seeing how Dee interacted with other members in the prison, and what other crazy characters were locked up in there, would have gone a long way in my eyes. I know I write this a lot, but if doing so would have extended the film by another 30 or 45 minutes in runtime, then I wouldn’t have been made.
But all this being said, I was definitely caught off guard by the ending. Add that to how it was filmed, and that’s not even mentioning the brilliant use of mobile phone footage throughout, and you’ve got a movie that I would definitely lay down in my bed and watch again.