Review of Starred Up (2014) by Compi24 — 15 Jul 2019

I'll be honest. I wasn't entirely thrilled with the majority of this movie as I was watching it. Sure, the acting was incredibly convincing and the camerawork was laudable at times, but there was just something about the narrative and characters in play -- I couldn't exactly place what this movie was trying to do or say.

But sometimes you just have to hear a movie out. Because, in a manner similar to Jeff Nichols's "Mud," it's within the final ten or fifteen minutes of "Starred Up" that things really start to fall into place.

Plot elements which once seemed directionless finally incorporate themselves in a massive way. Character dynamics that you felt left too much to be desired end up firing on all cylinders. And all of the thematic meaning and weight you felt the rest of the movie lacked ends up revealing its beautiful self.

It's really quite the film. Viewer warning, though; if you're not attuned to the regional dialects in play, you might have to watch this one with subtitles. I know I ended up having to do so.