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When an actor wins a\u00a0big award, or in the case of Cillian Murphy, the biggest award, the pressure mounts when it comes to answering that old chestnut of what happens next. Respect to Murphy, as rather than cash in his respectability chips with some thankless sidekick role in a\u00a0superhero monstrosity, he\u2019s chosen to keep things a\u00a0little bit more real and focus on simple, old school character pieces which allow him to flex his dramatic muscles in a\u00a0way that would not be so available to him in Hollywood.<\/span><\/p>\n Steve<\/span><\/i> is Murphy\u2019s second collaboration with the Dutch director Tim Mielants following the 2024<\/span> film,\u00a0<\/span>Small Things Like These<\/i>, and this time it\u2019s a\u00a0loose adaptation of Max Porter\u2019s intimate novella, \u200b\u2018<\/span>Shy\u2018. In fact, the focus of Porter\u2019s novel \u2013 a\u00a0juvenile delinquent suffering from suicidal ideation while living in a\u00a0special boarding school for troubled teenagers \u2013 has been bumped into the background, and now the white middle-class head of the school, Steve (Murphy), has been nudged to the\u00a0fore.<\/span><\/p>\n The film charts a\u00a0single madcap day in which the world comes tumbling down around Steve: a\u00a0camera crew are coming in to film a\u00a0piece about the school; their future funding hangs in the balance; a\u00a0local Tory MP<\/span> (Roger Allam, obvs) is set to come in for a\u00a0public address; and the boys are being absolute rotters. Mielants\u2019 leans heavily on Steve\u2019s hectic plate spinning, where he rests only to indulge his own private coping mechanisms. This leads to many scenes of people looking harried, clutching their hair, swearing, shouting and generally overacting.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Despite the old clich\u00e9 of wanting to be the person who saves the lost souls at this school, there\u2019s very little reason given why the Steve character is so invested in this project, and there\u2019s precious little focus on what the staff are actually doing to rehabilitate the kids. It\u2019s sparse on the technical detail of how these \u200b\u201c<\/span>half-way houses\u201d actually work, and what the structure is supposed to be (even as it falls apart), so it all seems a\u00a0bit abstract. Emily Watson is on hand as the freelance therapist, but from what we see, even her efforts seem entirely futile.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A general lack of detail ends up meaning that a\u00a0lot of the film\u2019s emotion and ideas are stated directly, whether through Murphy\u2019s jittery (and at times quite contrived) performance, or via a\u00a0voiceover device. Steve keeps saying how much he loves these boys and that\u2019s what\u2019s driving him, but the film stops short of actually trying to show that, and as such it ends up patronising the boys. It also leans quite heavily on thin stereotypes, such as Allam\u2019s stuffed-shirt MP<\/span>, a\u00a0slimy funding partner and the TV<\/span> crew whose cynical commentary about what they\u2019re filming never feels authentic.<\/span><\/p>\n Porter, who has written the screenplay, tries to sell us the notion that these types of institutions have some sort of implicit or therapeutic value, but is never serious in talking about the genuine pressures and obstacles that make their maintenance so difficult. Would a\u00a0run-of-the-mill day not have been eventful enough?<\/span><\/p>\n Tracey Ullman delivers a\u00a0very appealing and nuanced performance as one of Steve\u2019s senior colleagues, and she manages to channel some of that surreal drive that keeps such amazing and selfless people in such physically-testing jobs. Shy\u2019s story arc is the most interesting, and his up and down mood certainly make him one of the more intriguing presences in the film. Yet his fate is far too heavily signposted in the now-customary flash-forward prologue, and we don\u2019t spend enough time with him for the outcome to land emotionally. If this material and setting is something that holds interest, then digging out a\u00a0copy of Alan Clarke\u2019s 1979<\/span> film\u00a0<\/span>Scum<\/i> hits would do you\u00a0well.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\nGet more Little White\u00a0Lies<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n