STEVE
Starring: Cillian Murphy, Jay Lycurgo, Simbi Ajikawo, Tracey Ullman, Emily Watson, Joshua J Parker, Youssef Kerkour, Tut Nyuot, and Luke Ayres
Director: Tim Mielants
KATIE
Steve is a moving and emotionally intense drama that’s driven by an incredible performance from Cillian Murphy as the titular Steve. Murphy embodies stress and inner turmoil unlike any other actor I’ve ever seen, and every fibre of his being is heavy with anxiety and troubled tension. The young cast is also outstanding, especially Jay Lycurgo. Although it's set in the mid-1990s, it feels remarkably relevant today, speaking to the insurmountable pressure that teaching staff as a whole face across the UK. Steve is heartbreaking and bleak, but ends on a mercifully hopeful note.
ROBERT
A follow-up from a career-defining performance like Oppenheimer can be tricky, but Cillian Murphy is navigating it well with Tim Mielants-directed period dramas, the latest being Steve. Everything is propulsively charged in this in-depth look at one chaotic day in a troubled male school, mostly because the young men are fighting against their mental deficiencies and their bellicose attitudes. The teachers, like Murphy’s Steve and Tracey Ullman’s Amanda (who is a revelation in this) are trying to balance being mentors and prison guards, and their push-and-pull shows how much they care amidst troubling circumstances. Netflix excels in this English-based drama.
