Whether or not this just comes down to how I view it, I see prison dramas a lot like how I see boxing movies. They typically follow a pattern, yet I can’t help but be engrossed by how they will unfold. The protagonists are usually underdogs with enough reason for the viewer to be on their side. Sympathy is drawn out based on the stakes, whether it comes down to how the system will use them, what sort of adversary they face, or just the notion of being able to make it through what’s in front of them alive. Wasteman is an effective prison film for all of these reasons. It’s brutal in its depiction of the life inside, yet the performances turned in by leads David Jonsson and Tom Blyth make it all the more effective, as we watch what plays out.
Jonsson stars as Taylor, a prison cook serving a 13-year sentence. He’s on the path to being released early due to good behavior, which means he’ll finally get to reunite with his 14-year-old son. Taylor is regarded well enough by his fellow inmates. Along with cooking meals, he also does haircuts for prisoners Gaz (Corin Silva) and Paul (Alex Hassell) in exchange for drugs. Things take a turn when Taylor gets a new cellmate, Dee (Blyth), who steps in on the drug trade himself. This puts Taylor in a difficult position, and he’ll now have to find a way to balance the close-quarters relationships he has with the violent criminals around him.
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While Johnson already conveys the demeanor of a man who’s toughened up enough to get by in prison yet feels like one of the outliers doing time, the film provides a good example of someone locked away for charges that are questionable but not uncommon. In this instance, when he was much younger, he sold drugs to a teen, which led to a manslaughter conviction. Whether or not that’s an easy plot machination to keep us on Taylor’s side, he’s no less complex. He has a drug addiction, he’s in a position where he has to deal with bad characters to keep himself out of certain kinds of trouble, and he has a child he’s been forced to be separated from for a good portion of his life.
Seeing the dynamic be interrupted by Blyth’s Dee gives the film a tension that only slowly reveals itself, but we know it’s there. Having a story focused on how Taylor is ready to be let out of jail naturally means something is going to come along to upset that possibility, or at least attempt to. As we can already tell, Gaz and Paul are dangerous people, but Taylor has been dealing with them for a while. Dee may start with Taylor as someone who’s not so bad, but he’s clearly a wild card who draws the wrong kind of provocation.
Director Cal McMau does a fine job of slow-playing the dilemmas of this film. We never lose sight of the fact that these characters are in prison, and it’s not just the conditions of this situation but the behavior of those around our leads that pose certain challenges. At the same time, while this isn’t Sing Sing as far as making choices to get away from the familiar elements of a prison-based story, the tropes we do encounter are handled with a level of intensity and authenticity that at least keeps things grounded and reliant on strong work from the actors to sell it.
With that in mind, I am once again going to praise Jonsson, whom I’ve watched in rom-coms, dramas, sci-fi blockbusters, and dystopian thrillers, and have yet to see him let me down. Also serving as a producer on the film, I can only hope this sort of thing reflects the control he has over the choices he’s making as a performer who can do far more than trace the familiar path of a talented young actor flirting with Hollywood. Not that I’d be against seeing him in more big-scale projects, but the empathy he creates through Taylor, backed by the control he has over bringing a character to life, remains impressive.
Blyth is also quite strong here. He’s another talented young actor building a strong resume, and his work here finds him succeeding in creating a snake-like persona. As he slithers into the good graces of Taylor, there’s possibly more going on that is either triggered or an ulterior motive. Whatever the case, it’s another fine display of control and well-handled focus to make this character work.
At 90 minutes, the film moves as well as it needs to, without overcomplicating itself. The story is fairly straightforward, but it’s the presentation and the performances that speak to how well-crafted and thought-out this feature is. Given the environment, it’s really more of an acting showcase than anything. Still, the way the tension boils over leads to some strong moments of violence that effectively elicit a reaction. Of course, that can be the goal when developing these prison stories. Fortunately, Wasteman is continually successful in showing life inside.
The 41st Santa Barbara International Film Festival will be taking place from February 4 to February 14, 2026.
