THE GOOD BOY Reviewed by GREG KING
Director: Jan Komasa
Stars: Stephen Graham, Andrea Riseborough, Anson Boon, Kit Rakusen, Monika Frajczyk.
Also known as Heel in some territories, The Good Boy is an English/Polish co-production that serves up a dark and disturbing mix of black comedy and drama. It has been produced by Jeremy Thomas (the Oscar winning The Last Emperor, etc) and Polish filmmaker Jerzy Skolimowski (Eo, etc).
When the film opens, we are introduced to Tommy (played by Anson Boon, from the tv series MobLand, etc), a foulmouthed and reckless 19-year-old bad boy who films his excessive alcohol and drug fuelled rampages and his outrageous behaviour that often endangers those around him for TikTok followers. Then one night while he is staggering along a street wasted from a big night out clubbing and drinking, he is kidnapped. When he wakes up, he finds himself chained up in the cellar of a strange house.
Chris (played by Stephen Graham, who was so good in the award-winning Netflix series Adolescence, etc) has taken it upon himself to try and rehabilitate Tommy’s behaviour and detoxify him from his insidious cultural influences. Chris lives in a remote house in the countryside with his reclusive, emotionally damaged wife Kathryn (Andrea Riseborough, from The Grudge, etc) and 10-year-old son Jonathan (Kit Rakusen, from The Phoenician Scheme, etc).
Chris has also hired Rina (Monika Frajczyk, from Green Border, etc), a Macedonian refugee, to work at the house two days a week to perform domestic duties. She is forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement, and Chris uses her precarious visa situation as a tool to ensure she remains silent about what she witnesses in the house.
Tommy undergoes conditioning to transform his aggressive behaviour into something more positive and respectful of societal expectations. Occasionally he is beaten or tortured with a taser when he fails to respect Chris’s rules. He is often forced to watch disturbing footage of his own obnoxious behaviour as Chris tries to rehabilitate him through positive messaging and gentle rewards.
Tommy also learns some moral lessons from the novels he is given to read, including To Kill A Mockingbird and Ray Bradbury’s sci-fi classic The Illustrated Man. He even watches Ken Loach’s 1970 drama Kes with the family. Slowly Tommy finds himself being drawn into this dysfunctional family unit.
The Good Boy has been cowritten by first time scripter Bartek Bartosik and British filmmaker Naqqash Khalid (who is best known for a series of short films), and the influence of Stanley Kubrick’s classic A Clockwork Orange is obvious with the provocative theme of a violent teenager undergoing some form of conditioning to modify his behaviour. The film has been directed by prolific Polish filmmaker Jan Komasa (Corpus Christi, etc), making his English language debut here.
Graham delivers a slightly creepy performance here with his slouched posture, his deceptively quiet spoken manner. But he also suffuses Chris with a hint of vulnerability. Boon is also good with his demanding role, and his character undergoes a great change throughout the film. But both Graham and Boon create a strong dynamic in their shared scenes. Riseborough brings a pained quality to her role as the damaged Kathryn who is suffering from some unidentified trauma.
There is some great production design from Fletcher Jarvis to create the interiors of the house, adding to the claustrophobic feel of the film. The staging at times seems a little theatrical as the action is largely confined to the interior of the house. The film has been atmospherically shot by cinematographer Michal Dymek (Eo, etc).
With its eye attuned to some contemporary concerns about today’s out of control youth, The Good Boy is an unsettling film, but one worth checking out.
★★★
