Inside For All Day

Another year, another prison drama. If Starred Up were formulaic and stupid (think about Stallone’s recent return to the yard in Escape Plan, for example), it would be a travesty. Thankfully it’s only formulaic, but its toughness, tight direction and on-the-money performances rank it among the best prison dramas.

Eric Love (Jack O’Connell) is sent to a maximum-security prison. He’s starred up—a minor moved in with adults—because of his violent history. And wouldn’t you know it, his father, Neville (Ben Mendelsohn, miles from The Dark Knight Rises or his junkie in Killing Them Softly), is there, too, a lifer who ranks highly in the prison’s internal caste system.

Eric has to decide whether he’s going to let his father mentor him, or whether he’s going to carve his own route, or let the warden manipulate him, or whether he’s going to learn some lessons from the volunteer prison psychotherapist (a good Rupert Friend). And therein lies the formula, which you can spot from miles away. (The ending will surprise you until it doesn’t.) But Mendelsohn and especially O’Connell sear the screen, and the supporting cast is game, too. It’s a solid, visceral experience and worth your time if you have the stomach.

Directed by David Mackenzie

With Jack O’Connell, Ben Mendelsohn, Rupert Friend

Jean Cocteau Cinema
NR

105 min.