Cal McMau’s debut feature “Wasteman” arrived at TIFF as one of the festival’s strongest discoveries and quickly became a favorite on the slate. The film uses the familiar setup of a prison yard where survival hangs by a thread, but McMau pares it down to a tense and emotional study of endurance and the fragile hope that refuses to die.

From the opening scene, the film makes its intentions clear. A savage beating, captured on shaky phone-style footage, ends with a television crashing down on a man’s skull. It is a startling beginning that establishes how violence rules the environment and how easily a future can be destroyed.

Within this brutal system we meet Taylor, a soft-spoken inmate who has mastered invisibility played by David Jonsson (HBO’s Industry). He cuts hair, runs errands for the powerful, and numbs himself with pills, clinging to the memory of a son he has never met.

His routine collapses when a new cellmate arrives. Dee, played by Tom Blyth, brings both temptation and chaos, disrupting the fragile order. Jonsson grounds Taylor in exhaustion but allows flickers of hope to break through. When the possibility of early parole surfaces, he plays the moment with careful restraint, showing the weight of a man who has nearly given up but still dares to imagine freedom. It is one of his most affecting screen turns to date.

Blyth (who also appears in Claire Denis’ “The Fence” at TIFF) takes the opposite approach. His Dee is magnetic and volatile, shifting from charm to menace without warning. Even in moments where he seems to help Taylor, his motives remain suspect, and that unpredictability keeps the tension high. The tension between Taylor and Dee gives the film its pulse, pushing it forward with more weight than the framework of the story itself.

“Wasteman” does not reinvent the prison genre, but it sharpens it. The film builds its tension from shifting loyalties, the danger of one bad decision, and the brief moments of humanity that manage to break through the harsh setting. Fights and confrontations feel real, but the quieter moments leave the deeper mark.

The ending is a bit of a surprise and lands with impact. It ties the film’s themes together and leaves a finish that is as tough as it is satisfying.

“Wasteman” strength is its combination of raw intensity and emotional depth. It offers the suspense and grit of a prison thriller while delivering a story about second chances and survival that resonates beyond the genre. The film generated strong buzz at TIFF as one of the festival’s must-see titles. And it was. 

Lionsgate has boarded “Wasteman,” scheduling its U.K. rollout for February 2026. A U.S. release date has yet to be announced.  

See more TIFF coverage from mixyplix here.