Starred Up 2014

And once again, with little you can do something very good! Starred Up is an independent low-budget film, playing a lot with emotions, showing very intense situations always passed inside a prison. With very interesting plans without any existence of soundtrack and great dialogues between characters this film manages to be engaging and graceful despite the rough atmosphere that lives within those walls.

Eric Love is a very problematic young man. He has great difficulty in controlling his temper with extremely violent behavior. He has just been transferred to an institution for young offenders to a prison, which is not usually normal since Eric has not yet reached the adult age, this was an exception in an attempt to guide Eric on a good track. In prison Eric will have to learn to control himself, be less explosive and aggressive towards everyone, something that until now has been impossible to achieve. There he will meet various kinds of prisoners, learn to deal with each of them and to learn what it is to create a bond with others. But perhaps the most difficult of all is the fact of having to deal with the most influential member of the prison, Neville Love, his father who almost never had contact with him before.

At the beginning of the film we can easily compare it with Bronson, the 2008 Nicolas Winding Refn film with Tom Hardy in the lead role, taking into account the behavior of the main character of the story, but do not think I will watch to some sort of copy because in terms of plot they are completely different.

Starred Up gets through to the audience a very great emotional power. Some of the scenes carry a huge strain causing the viewer a completely connection wiht what you are watching. It is made ​​known to us once again much of the corruption, difference and hierarchies that exist in prisons around the world. All the scenes seem to be totally realistic and that is also achieved because of the great interpretations of the actors.

Jack O'Connoll gives a convincing performance as Eric, not even for a second we can't look at him as the delinquent, violent but at the same time we see a good boy who got lost because of some bitterness that life gave to him through 19 years of existence. Ben Mendolsohn, that we are more accustomed to see in supporting roles, always performing very well, also does a great job in here, with a more prominent role than those we usually see him. The rest of the supporting cast also did a good job in each of their roles.

I think maybe there could have been more character development. Some things we would be interested to know are hovering in the air, and would have been interesting to know more about them. The ending in my opinion was also a bit abrupt, kinda rushed. We can easily imagine what will happen next, but it would not have been bad to see a few more minutes of film.

Despite a few cons that Starred Up may have, its pros overcome the rest that can leave a little to be desired. A good film, that shows a powerful reality that sometimes we forget that exists.