Dir/Wri: Jan Komasa | Thriller 110′
If I describe a thriller that kicks off with plenty of rowdy behaviour, a teen slapping security guards, swearing, urinating and throwing-up in the street then you’ll get the gist of this searingly intelligent psychological drama with a Stockholm syndrome twist, subtle character development and an unexpected outcome. The Good Boy is the latest from Poland’s Jan Komasa who directed Corpus Christi (2019) and The Hater (2020). With Jeremy Thomas and Jerzy Skolimovski producing we know we’re in good hands.
The boy in question is Tommy, a delinquent who finds himself kidnapped and confined to the lugubrious Georgian mansion of Chris (Stephen Graham) a suppressed husband and his wife Kathryn (Andrea Riseborough) who clearly wears the trousers despite being mildly catatonic. The couple also have a likeable teenage boy called Jonathan (Kit Rakusen).
They’re an odd family, the three of them, in their zero-waste household. And Graham and Riseborough really flesh out two people who are convincingly compatible – yet far from the ordinary – in their unflappable psychosis. They’re just gently dsyfunctional like many couples.
To help with Tommy’s confinement Chris is looking for a housekeeper and Rina, from Macedonia, fits the bill. After catching sight of Tommy (Boon) who’s confined to a basement (by chains) while Chris ‘rehabilitates’ him, Rina decides the job might not be her scene. Chris does point out that an illegal status might get her into trouble. He’s is very tolerant of immigrants. Clearly all his barely concealed indignation at his controlling wife is taken out on Tommy but the rehab process is rather well- meaning (bird songs, books and educational videos) unless Tommy lashes out and then he gets a jolly good hiding. Trust is a process says Kathryn. “It’s not black and white; it has to be built”
Meanwhile Jonathan is also having a corrective upbringing. If he smokes his mum makes him puff away until he feels sick. A method that certainly cured my love of Rowntrees pastilles.
Bit by bit Tommy is granted more privileges, and it almost feels like something positive is developing between him and his hostage family – but that can work both ways. Meanwhile Rina’s past is catching up with her but then so is life for Chris. The Good Boy has an unexpected but satisfactory plot resolutio offering hope for this future in this subtle, haunting and beautifully filmed follow-up to The Hater.
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