WASTEMAN

(director/writer: Cal McMau; screenwriters: Hunter Andrews, Eoin Doran; cinematographer: Lorenzo Levrini; editors: Ryan Morrisson; music: Forest Swords; cast: Tom Blyth (Dee), David Jonnson (Taylor), Paul Hilton (Browning), Cole Martin (Adam, Taylor’s 14-year-old son), Neil Linpow (Bobby), Alex Hassell (Paul), Corin Silva (Gaz), Nell Barlow (Becca-voice); Runtime: 90; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Sophia Gibber, Myles Payne; Vertigo Releasing; 2025-UK)

“Stone-cold Brit prison drama that might be slight but nevertheless is gripping and well-acted.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

The directorial debut by Cal McMau is this stone-cold Brit prison drama that might be slight but nevertheless is gripping and well-acted. It’s set in an unnamed British city. McMau co-writes it with Hunter Andrews and Eoin Doran. “Wasteman” received a 2026 BAFTA Film Awards nomination for an Outstanding Debut by a British Writer,Director or Producer.

Taylor (David Jonnson) is a timid junkie, in his early 30s, who has been imprisoned for the last ten or so years in an unnamed overcrowded British prison (filmed in London & in Somerset’s Shepton Mallet prison). He’s anxious to get paroled on an early release (which is standard policy because of overcrowding) and start anew by getting rehabilitated from his opioid problem and thereby be reconciled with his teenage son.

The prison cook’s new cellmate Dee (Tom Blyth), also the same age. He’s a ruthless drug-dealer serving a sentence for manslaughter. He lures him into playing a violent power game over the drug sales in the prison with the bad-ass cons Paul (Alex Hassell) and Gaz (Corin Silva), who run the prison drug market. If involved with the prison drug-traffic, this will remove Taylor from getting his early release.

Though well-executed, it’s downer story is a tough watch.

REVIEWED ON 4/27/2026  GRADE: B-
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