The age-old adage that you don’t have to be mad to work here but it helps was never truer than for Cillian Murphy's Steve, head teacher at a residential reform school for teenage boys with, to put it mildly, severe behavioural problems.
Stanton Wood is a controversial establishment, a last-chance saloon for youngsters the rest of the world has given up on (“a waiting room for borstal,” suggests one minor character), apart from Murphy’s Steve and his plain-speaking deputy Tracey Ullman.
View oEmbed on the source websiteThus, the scene is set for a pivotal 24 hours during which the pressure-cooker environment is tested to its limits, in a powerful film where dark humour only partially masks a desperate state of affairs, distinguished by across-the-board memorable performances.
It’s an especially frantic day at Stanton Wood, on which a camera crew filming a short piece for a regional TV news programme coincides with a visit from the area’s pompous, knighted MP (a requisitely stuffy Roger Allam).
Director Tim Mielants drops that particular bombshell fairly early on, by which time he’s already skilfully established his characters, from the mayhem of Steve on what he calls “a roundabout of doom” and the equally well-meaning but more pragmatic Ullman, to the arguably unsung stars of the piece, the boys themselves.
Shy’s individual collision course is punctuated by pocket portraits of his fellow students (quick-witted bully Luke Ayres and maniacal Joshua J Parker make strong impressions), often presented as straight-to-camera interviews being filmed by the TV crew – heartfelt and hilarious in equal measure.
Difficult and destructive influences they may be, but as Ullman says of the misfits in her charge, “I f***ing adore all of them.”
However, Murphy’s star power and undeniable charisma can’t help but dominate events, and it’s almost exclusively through him that we see Stanton Wood unravel at the start of its careening towards a grimly uncertain future.
It’s high drama throughout and not always comfortable viewing, but Mielants and Porter use their canvas to shine a light on broader issues of social and educational systemic failure without once stumbling into preachiness.
Mielants is to be applauded for making his audience warm to a ragbag collection of ne’er-do-wells they might normally cross the street to avoid, and in Murphy’s title character he has helped fashion a poster child for underpaid, under-resourced workers navigating the obstacles that threaten the jobs they care passionately about.
One scene in particular, close to the conclusion of the film, reinforces the bond which inevitably forms between teachers and pupils; a dialogue-free snapshot that moistens the eyes to temporarily dilute the anger built up over the previous hour about the callous treatment by those in power towards a near forgotten underclass.
Hence then, the article about steve review cillian murphy is in awards worthy form in this powerful drama was published today ( ) and is available on Radio Times ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Steve review: Cillian Murphy is in awards-worthy form in this powerful drama )
Also on site :