If Stephen Graham’s Golden Globes win for Adolescence has you hungering to see him onscreen again, you may well thrill at Heel‘s first trailer.
Once more, Graham plays a father fiercely protective of his family and determined to raise his boys right. But where the patriarch in Heel might seem like a bespectacled pushover, the reveal that he’s got a teen boy locked up in the basement suggests this character has an even darker side than the devastated dad of Adolescence.
Directed by Jan Komasa, Heel centers on a family who resides in a remote home in the English countryside. There, they hold captive “bad boy” Tommy (Anson Boon), who patriarch Chris and his wife Kathryn (Andrea Riseborough) attempt to train to be a civilized young man. Their methods involve shackles, self-help video tapes, and beatings. But can Tommy be tamed? Or will he strive to escape?
On the festival circuit, Heel was known as Good Boy, not to be confused with the dog-fronted haunted house film. In my review out of TIFF, I cheered Graham and Riseborough’s performances, and declared, “If you’re seeking funky and fucked-up entertainment, Good Boy Heel should scratch that late-night movie itch.”
So keep an eye out for this one.
Heel opens in theaters and on demand on March 6.
