Dir. David Mackenzie
Mackenzie's Starred Up is so much more than your average prison movie. The father-son relationship of Eric (Jack O'Connell), the son, and Neville (Ben Mendelsohn), the father, is the core of the film. Eric has 'starred up', meaning he's just upgraded, as it were, from juvenile prison to regular prison due to his age. He's imprisoned in the same block as his father, who shares a cell with a male lover, Ashley (David Avery). First things first, we can clearly see that the family isn't exactly what you'd call 'wholesome' by the standards of society. Neville has likely killed to end up in prison, although the crimes of many of the prisoners are never elaborated on, and his son has led a life of crime from a young age, following in his father's footsteps.
But, the two are estranged. To sum it up, Eric has 'daddy issues', as Neville has never been there to raise him, mainly because he's been in prison; and we later learn that when Neville was living with Eric, he was never affectionate - not very surprising. Neville is the key to understanding how Eric has become what he's become, however Eric shows signs of independence that he's fostered away from Neville. The very first scene of the film shows Eric MacGyvering simple objects to create a usable weapon on the guards. Eric joins Oliver's (Rupert Friend) group counsel sessions, and we see how his shell is softened, and he opens up to his fellow prisoners - see this clip, where out of session he shares a cup of tea with his counsel-members and they talk about their mothers; Eric replies "I haven't got one" - simple, but it gets the point across, and we see that it's been him either flying solo resenting his dad, or with his dad, resenting him even more.
An argument in the middle of the film takes place between the two as Neville finds Eric's 'fraternizing' with his fellow counsel members out of session to be wrong, and he thinks that as a son he should listen to his father. This is the prime sense of discordance between the two - Neville is incapable of seeing Eric as a human being independent of being his son - who he must protect, give advice to, but never empathise with. Eric craves that empathy.
ENTER: Our Object. In the scene (unfortunately it's not available on line), Eric goes to Neville's cell, finding that he isn't in. Ashley welcomes him in. Pause here. There is a little bit of tension as viewers here, not bad tension necessarily, but it's odd to us to see Eric, Neville's son, interacting with his father's male lover. Men sleeping with other men, and being dependent and affectionate with other men (as Ashley is with Neville) unfortunately still doesn't sit right with the societal standard of male masculinity, and that is a standard that is massively amplified in a prison scenario. By how affectionate and open we see Ashley being, it's likely that he is gay, and is comfortable with being affectionate (later in the scene he rubs Neville's knee to try and get him to empathise with Eric); however we know Neville is/was straight, as Eric is his son, so it's likely that he's 'situationally gay' - a common finding in prisons where due to a lack of women, regularly straight men become affectionate with each other, sometimes also being a dominance thing although it doesn't seem to be the case here.
We then cut to when Neville returns to the cell, and we see that Eric has a cardboard juice-cup which he's been drinking from, as he's been talking with Ashley. Eric tells his dad that he's here to solve their issues and talk, which Ashley comments "Is a good thing". Ashley here is acting as a supportive partner to Neville, but also Eric, like a mother in a classic straight-family scenario. So in the scene that is his role, however as discussed, there is this tension of masculinity and unsaid judgement between father and son on this affection.
Eric: "You just order me about and tell me to do stuff. You don't give a fuck about how I feel. [Neville nods him on during a pause] Well, that's it."Neville can't grasp this. He thinks that someone must be threatening Eric, making him do something, as in his mind, why else would he come to his father? He becomes aggressive, ready to defend his son. Here is where Ashley puts his hand on Neville's knee, telling him that Eric is trying to tell him something. Neville, gently pushes his hand off, gestures with a point - clearly telling Ashley that he shouldn't do that in front of Eric. Neville is tied to the masculine father archetype - unfeeling, unaffectionate in front of his son, and didactic. Eric sighs, seeing that his attempt to tackle the main issue is failing, and leaves.
So why is that juice cup important? I think it's a genius bit of prop use, as later in the film, Eric meets with Dennis (Peter Ferdinando), the boss of this block, someone even higher up than his father. In their meeting what does Dennis give Eric? A: a cigarette. A cigarette vs. a cardboard juice-cup with a plastic straw, the kind of thing that you give a child. The respect that Eric deserves is conveyed in the object given to him (remember it's prison so objects carry more meaning and value here as gifts) by Dennis. So in a scene where the barriers between father and son are reinforced, we get the infantilizing juice-cup. I honestly don't have much more to say than I think it's a very subtle but very effective way of visual distinction between the regressive father-son relationship, and the more business-like nature of criminal relationships, still very much tied to that notion of masculinity. Also it gave me a chance to discuss this fantastic, fantastic film. Seek it out if you haven't already, if only for Mendelsohn's award-deserving performance, which naturally wouldn't be half as good without O'Connell's Eric.
