Steve
On his way to work one day in 1996, the head of Stanton Wood, a school of last resort for troubled young men, will find one of his students, Shy (Jay Lycurgo), smoking weed in a field while listening to music on headphones. His approach to the boy is just right, their relationship playful yet respectful, but when Shy reminds him a film crew will be at the school that day, things begin to go downhill for "Steve."
Laura's Review: B+
Reteaming with his "Small Things Like These" and 'Peaky Blinders' director Tim Mielants appears to be a no brainer for Cillian Murphy, who, along with an exemplary supporting cast including his costar from that last film, Emily Watson as school psychiatrist Jenny, creates an indelible portrait of idealists fighting the good fight against increasingly catastrophic prospects. At times it seems like screenwriter Max Porter, adapting his novella 'Shy,' has stacked the odds too highly against his flawed protagonist until one remembers the political climate that creates devastation like what we witness here.
After convincing Shy that arriving at school on the bonnet of his vehicle would, indeed, not be a good look for the film crew, Steve arrives to be immediately inundated with people and things demanding his attention. Kamila (Priyanga Burford), the Points West program host, wants to set her crew up. New teacher Shola (Little Simz) really needs to talk. And, as usual, the charming but pugnacious Jamie (Luke Ayres) is embroiled in a battle royale with Riley (Joshua J Parker) that is traveling from one room to the next. As Steve attends to the demands of his job, the Points West crew begins to wander and as Kamila films segments of her piece, it's obvious which way her narrative is slanted, describing taxpayers' burden for this 'luxury' education for boys she believes are almost certainly beyond redemption.
As the day progresses, we'll meet more of the students and staff of Stanton Wood, Kamila seating each down in front of the camera and asking them to describe themselves in three words, an increasingly revelatory portrait of these boys' potential and the staff's commitment to them and each other, despite such issues as Tarone's (Tut Nyuot) sexual aggression towards Shola, the latter of whom will astound as she single handedly stops a cafeteria riot using the calm techniques of her headmaster. But Steve and his staff learn from a glad-handing Julian (Ben Lloyd-Hughes) and Charlotte (Ruby Ashbourne Serkis), the woman he defers to for the actual bad news, that not only has Stanton Wood been sold, but it needs to be vacated by December.
Dean head Amanda (Tracey Ullman), Steve's staunchest supporter, lectures him when she witnesses him slipping into addictions we've been privy to all day. Meanwhile Shy, whose mother has told him she's cutting him off from all communication because she cannot handle his rages anymore, is spiraling in tandem. And yet he still manages to speak truth to power, telling visiting PM Hugh Montague 'it's pronounced Pole' Powell (Roger Allam) what everyone else is thinking.
Cinematographer Robrecht Heyvaert frames everything like a docudrama in parallel to the Points West crew who use Steve's various distractions to nose around where they shouldn't. Stanton Wood is depicted by one of those old Englilsh stone and glass leaded window estates retrofitted as a boarding school in a rural area, one which lends itself to the movie's dramatic climax. Cillian Murphy was great as an empathetic small town businessman in Mielants' last film and he's even better here, simultaneously holding things together and coming apart at the seams. Watson trades her menacing mother superior for level-headed guidance while Ullman exhibits dramatic chops. Every one of the young men cast as the students (Araloyin Oshunremim, Ahmed Ismail, Douggie McMeekin, Youssef Kerkour) has a moment to stand out. "Steve" highlights the great loss of human potential when programs for the under privileged are continuously undermined.
Robin's Review: B
Steve (Cillian Murphy) runs a reform school for unruly boys and is told it will shut down in a mere six months. He also has a problem with self-medicating, a BBC documentary is camped on his doorstep and an MP wants to horn in on the publicity in “Steve.”
Most people know Cillian Murphy as the Academy Award best actor winner for “Oppenheimer,” but he also does more quiet and thoughtful dramas like “Steve” and last year’s gripping “Small Things Like These.” In “Steve,” he has the weight of the world on his shoulders with his unruly, often special needs students, an overworked and underappreciated staff of dedicated educators and the abovementioned TV crew and pushy MP Montague-Powell (it is pronounced “Pole”). And, do not forget the secret self-medication for some unmentioned malady.
Murphy may be the star and titular character of “Steve,” but the supporting cast are fully fleshed out, too, with Tracy Ullman and Little Simz as dedicated and tough teachers and Jay Lycurgo as Shy, a troubled student who Steve tries to help. The rest of the kids all have personalities and play the troubled teens – they are in reform school, after all – with lots of energy and emotion.
Murphy, though, is the glue that holds the whole thing together – or, at least gives it his best shot – even when presented with the news that he has six short months to shut things down. The school, which cost 30000 pounds per year per student, is getting cut because it costs too much – which raises a question. What the hell happens to the kids? That is never explained – like the reason our leader believes the Department of Education should be abolished. It should not, by the way.
Netflix releases "Steve" in theaters on 9/19/25. It begins streaming on 10/3/25.
