Animol review: Adolescence star Ashley Walters makes an impressive, confident directorial debut

It’s good year for fans of the British prison drama. Hot on the heels of Wasteman – due out in UK cinemas this week – we have Animol. Receiving its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, in the Perspectives strand, this tense tale marks the feature directorial debut of Ashley Walters. The star of shows like Top Boy and, more recently, Adolescence and A Thousand Blows, of which he directed three episodes, Walters showcases some serious young talent here, notably Tut Nyuot, who previously featured in The Long Walk, and Netflix drama Steve, alongside Cillian Murphy.

Here, he plays Troy, brought into a young offender institution on remand as he faces grave charges: conspiracy to commit murder. Arriving the same day as the Polish-born Krystian (Vladislav Baliuk), with whom he soon forms a tight bond, he also runs into the very dangerous Dion (Sekou Diaby). Either Troy smuggles in a phone or D – as he calls himself – is going to make life very difficult for him. Thankfully, Krystian causes a distraction to help Troy sneak the burner past the guards, but it won’t be the last time D calls upon him.

Placed in a cell with the highly unstable Mason (Ryan Dean), Troy is soon told by D to cut his cellmate, using a homemade weapon, a razor blade implanted in a toothbrush head. “It’s either you or its him,” he’s told. After confronting Mason in front of others, he can’t bring himself to deliver this most vicious of warning signs. He’s not a violent lad by nature; all he’s trying to do is survive anyway he can, something the script shows very well, as it ticks off the days he’s inside.

Scripted by Nick Love, with whom Walters collaborated on TV show Bulletproof, this feels like a million miles away from the excessive, boyish tone of Love’s own movies as a director (most recently, the Danny Dyer-starring Marching Powder). Of course, Animol comes nowhere near the brutal nature of Alan Clarke’s Scum – still the Daddy of all Brit prison flicks – but, like Wasteman, it shows a very real side to modern-day prison life. From drones used by unseen outsiders to drop contraband over the walls to the way drugs and violence are commonplace, it paints a grim-but-convincing picture.

Crucially, it also has a strong and moving emotional arc, as the vulnerable Troy finds pockets of support – whether it be his recovering addict mother (Sharon Duncan-Brewster), a regular visitor desperate to repair their relationship, or a prison official (Walters’ Adolescence and A Thousand Blows co-star Stephen Graham, in a small but potent role), who yearns to steer Troy on a path towards a better life.

Graham’s character Claypole even provides one of the most surprising moments, when he convinces the inmates to drop their egos and join him in a bit of free-form dance. It might look a bit like the ‘Rainbow Rhythms’ episode of sitcom Peep Show, but it’s a touching scene, and one that helps Animol stand out from other prison films, which are so frequently filled with relentless and unforgiving despair.

Slivers of humour also worm their way into the story (like the inmates being taught how to iron shirts). But largely, it’s a film that explores the hardcore complexities that come with incarceration. “You are not an animol,” reads some misspelt graffiti, courtesy of Dion, on the wall. But in the jungle that is prison, you have no choice but to act like one. Survival of the toughest is, sadly, often the only option, in a world where showing even the slightest weakness leaves you exposed. An impressive, confident debut from Walters.

Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.