'Scum' will always be the benchmark by which "gritty British youth in prison movies" are judged and while 'Starred Up' shares a few similarities, it has its cake and eats it just like 'Scum' did.
While Alan Clarke crammed a succession of titillating stories about Borstal into 'Scum' while framing it with the tedium of prison, 'Starred Up', like it's protagonist, can only sit within the confines of mundane prison realities before it plunges headlong into melodrama. The first half of the film brilliantly displays the gritty truth of the agitated mind of someone like "Love" and then builds a steady pace into excellent character studies. The positive- reinforcement-powered tutor, who sees himself in a fantasy role of Robin Williams style saviour grows more demented while the old school prison hierarchy were portrayed dully cruel enough without becoming Dick Dastardly clones at the finale.
There are uneasy truths that stop the film becoming a Vertigo Films macho testostothon - the pragmatic lure of prison homosexuality is well handled - but the sudden burst for action movie histrionics at the end rob the film of any socio-political power it may have had rather than just "don't go to prison, you'll turn gay or be hanged by the governor". For the most part though, a good showcase of acting talent.
While Alan Clarke crammed a succession of titillating stories about Borstal into 'Scum' while framing it with the tedium of prison, 'Starred Up', like it's protagonist, can only sit within the confines of mundane prison realities before it plunges headlong into melodrama. The first half of the film brilliantly displays the gritty truth of the agitated mind of someone like "Love" and then builds a steady pace into excellent character studies. The positive- reinforcement-powered tutor, who sees himself in a fantasy role of Robin Williams style saviour grows more demented while the old school prison hierarchy were portrayed dully cruel enough without becoming Dick Dastardly clones at the finale.
There are uneasy truths that stop the film becoming a Vertigo Films macho testostothon - the pragmatic lure of prison homosexuality is well handled - but the sudden burst for action movie histrionics at the end rob the film of any socio-political power it may have had rather than just "don't go to prison, you'll turn gay or be hanged by the governor". For the most part though, a good showcase of acting talent.