‘Adolescence’ star Stephen Graham is on our screens again in his new film ‘The Good Boy (aka Heel)’ in which he played a haunted father who kidnaps 19-year-old Tommy (Anson Boon) in an attempt to reform him of his toxic views and behaviours.
Jan Komasa, who directed the film, described it as a ‘provocative thriller’, yet it expertly navigates the worlds of horror, absurdism and psychological drama. The script was originally set in Warsaw and was adapted into a English screenplay to be set in Yorkshire.
The film opens with Tommy (Anson Boon) who wouldn’t have felt out of place in Louis Theroux latest documentary, ‘Inside the Manosphere’. We watch as Tommy takes drugs, cheats on his girlfriend and starts a fight as we follow him though his last night out before he meets Chris (Stephen Graham). These opening scenes are characterised by bright colour and the lights of the club.
This is set against Graham’s character as he sits in a dull toned cafe, alone, controlled and contemplative. He is in the cafe to interview Rina (Monika Frajczyk) for the role of cleaner, this meeting is vital as she will become our pathway into the house, and the secrets it holds.
Andrea Riseborough plays Kathryn, Chris’ wife, who embodies the films muted tones as she is haunted by the secrets that lie at the heart of the film. Riseborough’s performance at first feels like a women possessed but as we grow with the character, we begin to see a sadism and barbarity to her, driven by her aim for perfection.
Later, we find Tommy in a new light, chained up by a collar on a mattress in the basement, a far cry from the confident and brash young man we met in the club. Tommy’s experience is filled with an undercurrent of classical music and literature as his boy saturated in 21st century behaviour and language begins to soften to the couple and partially there young son Jonathan (Kit Rakusen) who perfectly portrays the innocent and simplicity of what they family are attempting to do, despite the method in which they have chosen.
One of the strongest points of contention in the film which really places the film in a position of absurdity is as Stephen Graham explains the house is a house of order and they are ‘eco friendly, zero waste and non-toxic’. Whilst they have Tommy chained up in the basement.
Anson Boon, who we first saw star alongside Emma Mackey in ‘The Winter Lake’, brings us a performance that is steeped in anger and victimhood which holds the cast together as he personifies the catalyst and solution of the families’ problems.
The film draws on ideas first seen in ‘A Clockwork Orange’ as it explores the truth of morality and justice when set against free will and choice. Ideas that Grahams fulfils with a level of expertise we have seen time and time again from him as he brilliantly navigates this character who just wants to fix this toxic and painful world, he has found himself in. This role is sure to place him in the eyes for the next season of film awards.
Despite the complexity and depth of the films intentions it is juxtaposed by the dark humour that has been expertly crafter by the writing of Bartek Bartosik and Naqqash Khalid which at points had the whole cinema laughing.
The Good Boy is a must watch as you will be gripped not only the narrative which draws you in but by the incredible performances from the cast which constantly have you questioning the morality of each character and their individual motives.
The Good Boy comes to cinemas on the 20th of March.
’ in which he played a haunted father who kidnaps 19-year-old Tommy (Anson Boon) in an attempt to reform him of his toxic views and behaviours. ){kind=link}