‘Steve’: Not an easy watch, but unforgettable
A wet, grey English countryside in the mid-1990s sets the stage, heavy with secrets and the faint buzz of old pop songs fading away. Step into a crumbling reform school, Stanton Wood, a last hope for boys the world has already forgotten. At the heart of this shaky place stands Steve, played by Cillian Murphy, a headteacher carrying the weight of a hero on the edge of breaking.
‘Steve’, directed by Tim Mielants, who is teaming up with Murphy after ‘Small Things Like These’, isn’t just another British drama; it is a raw, emotional ride over a single, exhausting day that drags you deep into the chaos, compassion and heartbreak of a man who is trying to save others while barely saving himself.
The story, based on Max Porter’s novella ‘Shy’, unfolds with a documentary crew arriving to film life inside Stanton Wood. Their presence cracks open old wounds and exposes the school’s fragile order. Steve, already stretched thin by budget cuts, burnout and the weight of responsibility, tries to maintain calm as tempers flare among both teachers and students.
One boy, Shy, played with haunting intensity by Jay Lycurgo, becomes the emotional mirror to Steve’s own inner turmoil. Their uneasy connection, built on shared pain, grows through moments of confrontation and tenderness. As the day spirals into violence and confession, secrets surface and Steve’s facade of control begins to crumble. By nightfall, he is forced to face not only the chaos around him, but the emptiness within.
Murphy delivers yet another brilliant performance. He doesn’t show Steve as a perfect hero, but as a normal man who is slowly being worn down. You can see his pain in small ways, a shake in his voice and a tired look in his eyes. It is a brave yet gentle performance.
Opposite him, Lycurgo’s Shy is just as intense, but in a different way. Where Steve is quiet, Shy is loud and explosive. The push and pull between them is the film’s lifeblood. Their connection, built on mutual recognition of pain, gives the story its pulse.
Mielants’ direction feels restrained yet deeply immersive, much like the approach in ‘Adolescence’. But while ‘Adolescence’ lingered on the quiet discovery and confusion of youth, ‘Steve’ pushes that same intimacy into darker and heavier territory.
The movie’s intense mood is its greatest strength, but it can also be overwhelming. There are times when the constant yelling and shaky camera work become a bit too much, leaving you feeling worn out instead of moved. The story is focused on the present, giving us just one very bad day, and we never really learn what led Steve to this breaking point. We see his pain, but don’t understand his past.
Some of the other people in the film, like the teachers and students, don’t feel like full characters. Even the idea of a documentary crew filming Steve, which starts with intrigue, doesn’t go anywhere and is mostly forgotten.
These issues don’t break the movie. It is still a gripping watch. But these rough spots keep it from being a perfectly balanced film, stopping it short of the greatness it seems to be aiming for.
By the time the movie ends, you are left drained yet strangely moved. ‘Steve’ is a story about compassion in decay, about the small and messy ways people hold each other up when everything else is falling apart. It is not an easy watch, but an unforgettable one, a story that lingers.
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