At 19-years-old, Eric Love (Jack O'Connell) is moved from a juvenile detention facility to actual Big Boy prison, the same facility as his father, Neville (Ben Mendelsohn). Neville wants his son to have a better life and a chance to get out of prison but he doesn't really know how to express his feelings. An unfortunate misunderstanding sees Eric come to the attention of a volunteer therapist (Rupert Friend), Jago (Raphael Sowole), the prisoner who runs the contraband of the prison, and Deputy Governor Hayes (Sam Spruell), who has very definitive ideas about how inmates should be treated.
This is an extremely tense movie. There's a lot of violence and even more posturing as the build-up to violence. If you don't like prison movies, this is going to be a hard pass. But if you can sit with it, you'll get to experience one of the most sensitive dramas about toxic masculinity, pride, self-worth, and family that I have ever seen.
It's easy to forget that Ben Mendelsohn is an incredible actor if you've only seen him in like Marvel's Secret Invasion or bit parts in ensemble casts. He owns every frame he's in of this movie and hangs like a shadow over the ones he's not. O'Connell, Friend, and David Ajala are rising stars but Mendelsohn is a veteran and the difference is striking.
I'm not saying get your dad to watch this instead of Shawshank on Father's Day, but it's definitely worth the watch. It's streaming on the Roku Channel.
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