Shadows on the Wall | The Good Boy

The Good Boy US title: Heel

dir Jan Komasa
scr Bartek Bartosik
prd Jeremy Thomas, Jerzy Skolimowski, Ewa Piaskowska
with Stephen Graham, Andrea Riseborough, Anson Boon, Kit Rakusen, Monika Frajczyk, Savannah Steyn, Mila Jankowska, Callum Booth-Ford, Noah Valentine, Noah Manzoor, Maciej Stepniak, Jessica Johnson
release US 6.Mar.26,
UK 20.Mar.26
25/UK 1h50

TORONTO FILM FEST

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There's a pitch-black comical undertone to this unnerving dramatic thriller, making it impossible to look away from the screen as the offbeat story unfolds in unpredictable directions. Most impressive is how writer Bartek Bartosik and director Jan Komasa juggle the concept of heroes and villains, boldly confronting accepted attitudes and stubborn beliefs. And at the centre are three astonishingly committed actors creating characters who continually surprise us.

In urban Britain, tearaway young adult Tommy (Boon) feels indestructible, taking no responsibility for his raucously inebriated lifestyle of verbal abuse, physical violence, thoughtless sex and callous vandalism. Then after passing out in the street, he wakes up chained in the basement of a country house. Soft-spoken Chris (Graham) and his even more hushed wife Kathryn (Riseborough) offer harsh discipline for his furious outbursts. While their pre-teen son Jonathan (Rakusen) provides cheerful optimism. Sure enough, Tommy begins to be tamed, but the question is whether he is only waiting for a chance to pounce.

Adding to the growing tension, Chris has hired Rina (Frajczyk) to help with housework, and her interaction with Tommy fizzes with possibilities. It also evolves into a startling subplot that propels the story in an unexpected direction. Through all of this, Komasa maintains a tautly claustrophobic atmosphere, trapping us in this house with Tommy, carefully observing the details of everything that's happening around him. This creates fascinatingly conflicted reactions: do we root for the victim or perpetrators?

It helps hugely that this gifted cast remains sympathetic even when their characters are deeply troubling. Graham is terrific as the mild-mannered but unrelenting Chris, calmly enforcing his brutal rehabilitation programme while tenderly caring for his wife and son. Riseborough is fascinating as a woman who seems to have lost the will to live before Tommy offers a spark of meaning. And Boon has the most difficult role as the mercurial Tommy, who has never considered any one else's feelings before, but might be cracking.

It's rare for a film to play with audience loyalties in such a disturbingly nuanced way. We can't possibly be on the side of the nightmare youth who brazenly abuses everyone he meets and dismisses his destruction with a smirk. But we also shouldn't be happy about a couple that takes him hostage and sets out to soothe this savage beast. But the film boldly cuts through these ideas, offering complex motivations and difficult redemptions that leave us wondering if perhaps our perception is the problem.

themes, language, violence, sexuality 12.Feb.26

R E A D E R R E V I E W S

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