Cillian Murphy

Tracey Ullman

Jay Lycurgo

Little Simz

Douggie McMeekin

Youssef Kerkour

Roger Allam

Emily Watson

Archie Fisher

Araloyin Oshunremi

Luke Ayres

Marcus Garvey

Priyanga Burford

Joshua Barry

Ahmed Ismail

Joshua J. Parker

Tom Moya

George Fouracres

Tut Nyuot

Amy Cudden

Danielle Meehan

Ben Lloyd-Hughes

Ruby Ashbourne Serkis

Shelley Longworth

Charlie Beaven

Tilly Walker

Lois Haidar

Leanne Everitt

Max Porter

Tim Mielants

Alan Moloney

Danielle Palmer

Robrecht Heyvaert

Paki Smith

Nigel Pollock

Johnny Byrne

Kate Bone

Dane Millward

Elizabeth Eva Hedley

Daire Glynn

Senjan Jansen

Ben Salisbury

Geoff Barrow

Tina Pawlik

Robert Sterne

Adanna Adams

Nicola Long

Lyndsay Myles

Gordon Seed

Daryn McLaughlan

Rebecca Mann

Shadé Addams

Sally Endean

Kyle Stephen-Lett

Freya Emerson

Lily Sullivan

Georgina Woods

Iain Downes

Mike Parker

George Nelmes

Ian O'Sullivan

Danny Carrey

Stamos Triantafyllos

Arron Monkman

Ben Jones

Julie Sande

Alex Hollowbread

Maddie Ferguson

Kudzai Dzokamushure

Ben Grady

Alfie Coates

Madz Abbasi

Stevie Haywood

Wim Swinnen

Sion Davies

Andy Green

Matthew Wilson

Robert Rabson

Josh Thomas

Mark Hutton

Gavin Hyden

Tom Stansfield

Jack Connolly

Chris Sibley-Hale

David Harris

Nisha Williams

Charlotte Kayll

Mairead Harris

Martine Watkins

Angela Stewart

Molly Carroll

Faith Johnston

Bradley Kelly

Joshua Watkins

Josie Taylor

Charlotte Goldney

Suzanne Nicell

Anne Reid

Anne O'Donovan

Emily Lin

Leon Welchman

Zac Gregory

Owen Twort

Monty Eliot-Domineguez

Sam Gregson-Hicks

Chayenne Rogers-Dixon

Charlotte Fenton

Colm Bassett

Billy Buckley

Johnny McDaid

Paul Mitchell

John Read

Patricia Bailey

Leah Fletcher

Richard Barrett

Jacob Barrett

Mark Bassett

Aidan Doherty

John Van Der Pool

Marc Headland

Alan Evans

Drama

Steve

Big Things Films

Ireland

CinemaSerf

Though Cillian Murphy takes top billing and turns in a visceral effort in the title role, this is really a formidable ensemble effort as he leads a small group to teachers in what seems to be a constant rearguard action with some of the most unruly teenagers you’ll ever see. Helped out by his deputy “Amanda” (Tracey Ullman) and self-medicating regularly, he has the added pressure of a local BBC television crew coming to do a piece on the place; the local MP is also coming to get in on that action and the local council are also along this day to tell them all that the school’s future - at around £30k p.a. per pupil, is making the whole enterprise increasingly unfeasible. Our first glimpse of the residents sees us meet “Shy” (Jay Lycurgo) who is dancing about in a field slowly getting ”baked” at 10am! Then there’s “Jamie” (Luke Ayres). Larger than life in every sense and sharp enough to wind up just about everyone else; “Riley” (Joshua J. Parker) is akin to the Duracell Bunny only at ten times the speed. “Shola” (Little Simz) is the newbie teacher and Emily Watson’s “Jenny” tries to fathom out the psychology of their erratic behaviour. They are all foul-mouthed, violent and obnoxious, sure - but they are all also bright; they fight and brawl but there is loyalty amongst them, affection even. Each character gets their moment under the spotlight, but essentially we focus on “Steve” - a man who has demons of his own and on “Shy” whose behaviour has left his mum and stepfather to cut all ties with the lad. You get the sense that both men are in a very similar boat, only one of them wears a tie and the other some orange-foam headphones - and both deliver emotionally-charged performances. Ullman is strong and sympathetic in support to just about everyone and there is a unifying cameo from Roger Allam who plays the typically pompous and condescending MP “Montague-Powell” (pronounced “Pole”) who, like all but those who actually lived in this rapidly dilapidating stately pile, had little idea of just what went on here, and of just how crucial this infrastructure was in offering a semblance of hope, security and consistency to young men who’s lucidity ebbed and flowed as readily as the tides we see so often on the poster on the wall. The last few minutes remind us, powerfully, that these staff are professional people who must try to balance the demands of their careers with those of their personal lives, and the clever use of a tape recorder to serve as an aide-memoir to “Steve” has a double benefit of also helping the audience to appreciate just how stressful all of their lives were. No matter just how futile their efforts frequently appeared to be, these were not people inclined to give up - regardless of the sacrifices they would routinely and repeatedly have to make. The kids? Well the acting on display here is natural, entertaining, chilling and acrobatic all whilst offering us a sense of their vulnerability, their loneliness and their inter-dependence - for all their bravado and practical jokes. It’s a breakneck piece of cinema that serves to make us realise that there can be no price put on their vocational skills nor on the provision of “care” for these people whom society at large would doubtless consider a threat and who would almost certainly incarcerate them. It’s a very tricky subject to get across with integrity, but I think this does make you sit up and think - and laugh occasionally, too.