Wasteman Review: Hypnotic & Potent Prison Drama

From its first scene till the last, Cal McMau’s Wasteman grabs you and never lets go; David Jonsson and Tom Blyth are superb in this slow-burning tale of survival.

Soon, we learn that Taylor has been serving a drug possession sentence in a British prison for thirteen years, during which he has been pretty good at avoiding trouble. Though this place is filled with plenty of violence and ruled by a very specific hierarchy, he’s been surviving by lying low most of the time, and occasionally cutting the prison’s top dog’s hair in exchange for synthetic heroin with which to numb his pain. Taylor has a young son, and he only wishes to get through his sentence so he can see him again and start over.

But his routine changes when he gets a new cell mate, Dee (Tom Blyth, of Plainclothes), who immediately reveals himself as Taylor’s polar opposite. “Where’s my sh*t?,” Dee asks the prison guard when he arrives, entering the room like he owns the place. The moment the guard leaves, he pees, gets naked in front of Taylor, and nonchalantly asks, “Where’s the shower?”. His new cellmate responds, taken aback by how out of place Dee feels within the prison walls; in fact, it’s quite the opposite, as his sense of entitlement is ruled by his own awareness that he’s not going to get out anytime soon. But Taylor soon leans that living with Dee has its own perks too.

Clearly, Dee is a whole new kind of prison bully: the kind who’ll be your best friend, and who’ll even share part of his wealth with you, as long as he’s in charge. And when Dee’s “sh*t” does arrive, and the inmate makes himself at home, we understand just how much influence this charismatic, seemingly harmless, and even, at times, genuinely affectionate young man must have. Soon, Taylor’s cell is equipped with an X-Box, plenty of food, and all sorts of electronic devices. “I’m gonna boss this place, yeah?,” Dee utters casually when his drug supply arrives too, not long later. “Yes bruv, we are open for business,” he says without a care in the world; just like that, he’s throwing parties, completely unfazed by the consequences his actions will have on the fragile power dynamics within the prison.

Director Cal McMau and writers Hunter Andrews and Eoin Doran will get to that, but what makes Wasteman different from other films in the genre is that its focus never strays from its central relationship. Yes, there’s plenty of violence in the movie, and it ultimately does come down to a fight for control between two drug lords who are both powerful in different ways. Yet most of this slow-burning drama’s runtime is spent with Dee and Taylor as they get to know each other, forming a very real and complex bond.

David Jonsson and Tom Blyth are superb anytime they’re on screen, but when they’re together, they’re mesmerizing. Aided by a fantastic script that lets their characters’ relationship evolve at a pace that feels natural and even quite intimate despite all the violence, Blyth and Jonsson deliver masterclasses in tension and restraint, effortlessly portraying Dee and Taylor as real, multilayered individuals that somehow manage to grow immensely throughout the film while also remaining exactly who they were at the start.

We’d spend hours watching them interact, especially since the script takes us to some truly surprising places. Where Dee is calm and used to minding his own business, Taylor is magnetic, extroverted, and larger than life, his energy infectious. Dee is trying to remain invisible, reacting to everything with a calm composure; Taylor, on the other hand, thrives on being in control, and when that doesn’t happen, he can be utterly unpredictable.

As their relationship evolves, not only do they complete each other in more than one way, each providing the other with something they needed, but it’s heartwarming to see them together. Somehow, there’s real affection between the two friends, in a way that should clash with their surroundings but doesn’t, making their dynamics all the more hypnotic and gripping to watch. There’s also plenty of humor in a film that manages to retain the grittiness of the genre while also making us care about both characters even more; at times, we even forget where they are.

“If you’re not careful, you’re going to mess it all up,” a prison guard tells Taylor not long after Dee’s arrival, when the latter’s actions are starting to have consequences on his cellmate. In any other movie, you’d know exactly what that meant for our well-meaning protagonist. But just when you think you have it all figured out, Wasteman defies our expectations once more, leading to a key point in the film where you’ll have absolutely no idea not only of what’s about to happen, but also on whose side to be on.

Who is the worst criminal? Who should you root for? And what kind of ending should you want? The moment you’ll start asking yourself these questions is when you’ll realize that Wasteman spent most of its runtime slowly and quietly setting up a climax in a very complex and layered way – so much so that anything could happen. And with the discovery of how exactly Taylor managed to survive thirteen years in prison comes a realization that Wasteman is a tragedy; yet, at the same time, it’s one that leaves room for hope.

In the end, Cal McMau’s brilliant, unpredictable prison drama is a story of contrasts, embodied not only by its two protagonists but by the world they inhabit – and us with them: guilt and innocence, friendship and rivalry, addiction and freedom, violence and apathy, life and death. But above all, this is a story of survival, where the only ones who’ll make it out alive are those who have always known how to do the right thing.

Wasteman was screened at the BFI London Film Festival on 16-17 October, 2025. The film will be released in U.K. and Irish cinemas by Lionsgate on 20 February, 2026.