This gritty prison drama charts the transformation of a white-collar family man (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) into a ruthless criminal after he lands up behind bars
This gritty prison drama charts the transformation of a white-collar family man (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) into a ruthless criminal after he lands up behind bars.
Rehabilitation doesn't get a look in when Coster-Waldau's successful financier goes to prison after inadvertently causing a fatal traffic accident while driving under the influence.
The only way to survive, he quickly learns, is to join a prison gang and, once in, there's no turning back.
Writer-director Ric Roman Waugh keeps up the mood of grim fatalism from first to last, cutting back and forth between parallel narratives showing the events leading to Coster-Waldau's incarceration, his brutal rise through the prison ranks and his actions following his release.
Things get more than a little contrived as the now tattooed gangster, 'Money', sets up an intricate criminal scheme designed to secure his family's safety, while pushing away his dismayed wife (Lake Bell) and son (Jonathon McClendon) and dodging the police. But the film's portrayal of prison life - down to its rituals and slang ('Who has the keys to the yard?') - rings true.
This film premieres on Sunday 20 May.
