![](\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/M\/MV5BNjQwMDRhOTgtN2I0Yi00MjU5LWJhYTItMjE0NDU0MGUwYjJiXkEyXkFqcGc@._V1_.jpg\")
An upcoming UK prison film was shown at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, and it captivates the audience from the first frame. Set entirely in a prison, debut filmmaker Cal McCau dedicates this film to the energy of the environment rather than the environment itself. This movie follows a father, played by David Jonsson, who has been in jail for 13 years on drug related charges, and is recently told that he is being released soon under the condition of good behavior. This drastically changes the man\u2019s outlook, determined to see his son that he abandoned after he was sentenced over a decade ago. Standing in his way is his new cellmate, Dee, played by Tom Blyth, a troublemaker at his core.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThe film describes the dynamic between the two, filled with tension and an unrelenting sense of anxiety. Lots of this tension is due to the intimate cinematography of Lorenzo Levrini, who worked on the 2022 film, <\/span>Amanda<\/span><\/i>. The filming is so intimate that there are moments we are put in the perspective of the inmates, our only visual being vertical video footage of prison fights, as if we are the ones recording. It is this technique that makes the viewing experience much more nerve-wracking. The dialogue is fast paced and immediate, thanks to screenwriters Hunter Andrews and Eoin Doran. The story is a violent one, but with a deep understanding and emotionality at its core. It\u2019s not hard for us to root for our main character, and it\u2019s ironically equally as hard to find that same empathy for its antagonist.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Due to the environment being stagnant most of the time, the audience only seeing the prison, a lot of the film is dependent on the acting performances from the leads. David Jonsson was a standout, with lots of moments with no words at all, his emotion is seen through his subtle facial movements, with the claustrophobic, techno-inspired score overtop of it, done by Matthew Barnes, often known by his stage name, Forest Swords. Tom Blyth plays his character in an almost directly opposite way, confrontational and aggressive. The interactions between the two seem to be representative of masculinity as a whole. Violence is rewarded in this environment, and times of emotion are quickly detoured to anger. While this is natural to the circumstances, being that they are in prison, it also shows how vulnerability is weaponized in these hyper-masculine spaces. It makes it so even when wanting redemption, the cycle of violence keeps its temptation. You can\u2019t help but feel for the protagonist, knowing that the system he is trying to defy is always following him, waiting for a slip up.<\/span><\/p>\n The intensity of the film is because of the people that created it, and every component fits together as needed. The experience of watching in the theater makes this even more evident, the anxiety shared in the crowd. Tight close up shots, sharp dialogue, and a specific incident in the third act that changes the trajectory of the entire story, all combine to make a nailbiting film.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Reviewed by Heijh Diaz. Viewed at SBIFF. An upcoming UK prison film was shown at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, and it captivates the audience from the first frame. Set entirely in a prison, debut filmmaker Cal McCau dedicates this film to the energy of the environment rather than the environment itself. This movie […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":249139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,441],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-films","category-santa-barbara-film-festival-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/249139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48914"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49066,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48914\/revisions\/49066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}