STEVE

(director: Tim Mielants; screenwriter: based on the novella Shy by Max Porter/Max Porter; cinematographer: Robrecht Heyyaert; editor: Danielle Palmer; music: Geoff Barrow, Ben Salisbury; cast: Cillian Murphy (Steve), Jay Lycurgo (Shy), Tracey Ullman (Amanda), Emily Watson (therapist Jenny), Simbi Ajikawo (Shola), Priyanga Burford (TV Journalist), Luke Ayres (Jamie), Joshua J. Parker (Riley), Tut Nyugi (Tyrone); runtime: 93; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Alan Moloney, Cillian Murphy, Tina Pawlik; Netflix; 2025-UK/Ireland)

“Too melodramatic in making its points.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Belgian director Tim Mielants (“Small Things Like These”/ “Will”) adapts to the screen Max Porter’s 2023 novella Shy. Porter also writes the screenplay for the school drama. It looks like a documentary and would have probably been better served if it was.

The film is set in 1996 at the rural Stanton Wood all-male boarding school in England. The castle school is set to close in six months due to poor performance ratings and an unwillingness for the politicians to finance the costly project any longer.

It follows a day in the life of the saintly Steve (Cillian Murphy), the compassionate head-master of the reform school for at-risk students. While fighting his own issues of mental health and a secret drug addiction, he does all he can to help his troubled students.

We meet the teen named Shy (Jay Lycurgo), who has a self-destructive past of violence, and a mother who has abandoned him. His story is told by him sharing his dreams and thoughts. His story allows us to see that the school closing might be his last chance to be saved.

There’s a TV film crew at the school shooting a documentary on why the public funded school has failed and will close.

Chaos rules the day, as the noisy place is filled with tension and the kids acting up for the cameras. We meet the school therapist (Emily Watson) and two teachers (Tracey Ullman & Simbi Ajikawo).

The lesson we’re supposed to learn is how necessary it is for society to fund such schools and how awful it would be to close schools like this that are so needed. I believe that, but if Cillian Murphy wasn’t in it the film would not be effective because its story was just too melodramatic in making its points.


It played at the Toronto Film Festival.

REVIEWED ON 9/16/2025  GRADE: B-
dennisschwartzreviews.com