Wasteman, the feature debut of British director Cal McMau, runs a brisk 90 minutes and takes place almost entirely inside a prison. Small in scope and shot with handheld camerawork that gives it a rough, documentary feel, it centers on two very different inmates and their uneasy bond.
Taylor (Jonsson), a quiet prisoner on the verge of parole, spends his days cutting hair and keeping to himself, avoiding trouble to stay on track for release. That changes when he is assigned a new cellmate, Dee (Blyth), whose abrasive personality spells trouble from the start. After some hesitation, the two connect, and through Dee’s outside connections, Taylor manages to reach out to his son for the first time in years. But favors come at a cost. Soon Taylor finds himself smuggling drugs for Dee, and when he tries to back out, Dee uses his son as leverage. Doing what Dee wants might mean losing his chance at freedom.
Given how straightforward the story is, the film leans heavily on its performers, and thankfully it has two of the best emerging talents working today. Both David Jonsson (The Long Walk, Alien: Romulus) and Tom Blyth (Plainclothes, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes) bring depth and nuance to characters who could have easily felt underwritten. We get a strong sense of who they are and what led them here even before they speak it. Jonsson adopts a more timid voice than usual, his every movement showing a man desperate not to be noticed. Blyth, on the other hand, oozes charisma and danger, delivering a far more memorable villain turn than in his Hunger Games film. Unafraid of full frontal nudity and flashing a devilish grin, he makes Dee the film’s most unpredictable element and its greatest source of tension.
However, once the film establishes these two, it does not travel any paths we have not seen before. There are bursts of tension, but little development or escalation. It moves quickly and keeps attention for its short runtime, yet it leaves little behind once it is over. A richer backstory for Dee or a clearer emotional arc for Taylor could have given their relationship more weight. As it stands, Wasteman is modest, well acted, decently made, but too slight to linger. It shows that strong acting can hold attention, but it cannot replace substance.
This is part of Reviews On Reels TIFF 2025 Coverage. Due to the hectic rhythm of a film festival, it may be tweaked in the future.
Still courtesy of TIFF.