Cillian Murphy’s Netflix drama is a difficult watch with high performance

When we meet the title of title in the chaotic drama of Tim Mielants “Steve”, he sits for an interview recorded on Stanton Wood, the School Private Reform for adolescents where he is in chief. With a heavy sigh, Steve (Cillian Murphy), who devoted his life, his blood, his sweat and his tears to the Academy, allows the public to know exactly what he feels right now.

“Steve” had his world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, where he received a warm reception of festivals that could have expected a film that looks like “dangerous spirits” or the “Society of Dead Poets”. What they have in place is a lesson in humility in a school that is not fortunate enough to have inspiring characters like Michelle Pfeiffer or Robin Williams converting delinquents into civil members of society. Instead, they have a secret and possible alcoholic drug addict dealing with the weight of a reform school on his shoulders while trying to forget his mistakes in the path of a better potential future as a educator.

Murphy plays Steve with Vigor and determination, although there is an underlying problem at hand that is not clear from the start. As a teacher -in -chief, Steve is the boss of a school for boys dedicated to the rehabilitation of young British rebels. A particularly frantic Thursday, Stanton Wood is invaded by a shooting team that seeks to make a documentary on the school – and to exhibit it to British taxpayers who could wish their money to be spent elsewhere.

With his assistant, Amanda (a clearly moderate Ullman tracey), Steve heads the school and all those who live there full time. The dormitories are stacked with unlisted rooms, the classrooms are in disarray, and the big student body seems to have the race of a school which desperately needs a renovation in mental health.

At the center of the action is shy (Jay Lycurgo), a teenager who spends his mornings to be stoned and dancing in an area before the start of the school day. Shy is cut off from his family, a victim of intimidation by his classmates, and must now face a Hellbent film team to reveal all the cracks in the walls of Stanton Wood.

When he asked him the pivot question asked all the students of the film’s documentary, “describe yourself in three words”, Shy’s answer is the unhappy, depressed, angry and bored “.

The young actors who make up the community of Stanton Wood campus create a disorderly and violent environment in “Steve”, a film that is not exactly its message. A reinterpretation of the novel “SHY” by Max Porter, the crumb film takes place during a day and one night at Stanton Wood. But although the prospect of the film is that of Steve, it would benefit the public more to stick to the point of view of Shy.

Shy and Steve manage their own internal battles separately, timid by meaning in the outside world its suicidal ambitions, and Steve using the bottle between the classes. The two are concerned about their next action plan, but if they communicated their troubles frequently and openly to those who care, they could find comfort with the other. This school needs a good kick in the ass, but Steve, although well -intentioned, is clearly no longer man for work.

Likewise, “Steve” is a powerful film with emotional performances by Murphy and Lycurgo, in particular, but it never rises to its own ambitions. The direction of Tim Mielants, although chaotic and disorderly by design, deviates from control with radical camera movements and extensive waves which do not seem to serve history.

An imminent closure of the permanent school is wreaking havoc on the heart and spirit of Steve, Amanda and the rest of the teachers of Stanton Woods. The young actors who play antagonizing students make a big set, which gave lightness to a disastrous situation, all taken on cinema for documentaries visiting their school to record. But “Steve”, despite his ideas in principle and the dismay they cause, never reach the potential of inspiration, nor to try to be this kind of film.

Instead, Tiff’s public was surprised to learn that certain conferences are not ultimately delivered with a significant lesson. Sometimes, if we are lucky, they come with exceptional performances of main actors in the middle of a noisy and decorated, uncertain premise from its point of view. Imperfect, yes, but very powerful when the credits roll.

The film will be broadcast worldwide on Netflix from October 3.