Starred Up (2014)
Directed by David Mackenzie
19-year-old Eric, arrogant and ultra-violent, is prematurely transferred to the same adult prison facility as his estranged father. As his explosive temper quickly finds him enemies in both prison authorities and fellow inmates — and his already volatile relationship with his father is pushed past breaking point — Eric is approached by a volunteer psychotherapist, who runs an anger management group for prisoners. Torn between gang politics, prison corruption, and a glimmer of something better, Eric finds himself in a fight for his own life, unsure if his own father is there to protect him or join in punishing him.
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What critics compared Starred Up to
For David Mackenzie, director of Young Adam and Hallam Foe , Starred Up is a step up for which he apparently prepared by watching Robert Bresson's A Man Escaped and Don Siegel's Escape from Alcatraz .
The exposed underbelly proves an effective conduit for tension and drama for director David Mackenzie (“Starred Up”) and writer Taylor Sheridan (“ Sicario ”).
With electrifying, graceful direction by David Mackenzie (“Starred Up,” “Perfect Sense”); a rich, darkly humorous and deeply insightful screenplay by Taylor Sheridan (“Sicario”), and no fewer than four performances as good as anything I’ve seen onscreen this year, “Hell or High Water” is an instant classic modern-day Western, traveling down familiar roads but always, always with a fresh and original spin.
Director David Mackenzie (“Starred Up”) drives his manure spreader all over the film, starting with a graffito reading, “3 tours in Iraq but no bailout for people like us” and peppering the film with billboards promising debt relief.
His other films — the powerful Irish prison drama Starred Up, the science fiction romance Perfect Sense, the Ewan McGregor / Tilda Swinton mystery-drama Young Adam — similarly explore passionate but muted relationships, and the conflict between self-interest and sacrifice, especially among people too solemn and self-contained to talk through their feelings.
Directed by David Mackenzie, who made the bruising prison drama “Starred Up,” and based on a screenplay by Taylor Sheridan, who wrote last year’s drug-war thriller “ Sicario ,” “Hell or High Water” feels big because its stakes are so low.
Though Granik’s approach is reminiscent of the sensitive, stripped-down style of Kelly Reichardt’s work (“Wendy and Lucy,” “Certain Women”), by reteaming with Scottish cinematographer Michael McDonough (who shot not only “Winter’s Bone,” but also Terence Davies’ radiant “Sunset Song” and the gritty prison drama “Starred Up”), she creates a richer visual environment in which to dwell.
If you see one film about walled-in males this fall, it should be the savage and powerful British prison drama "Starred Up," a superlatively acted father-son story played out behind bars and starring up-and-coming Jack O'Connell.