A One Mann’s Movies review of “Animol”. (From the 2026 London Film Festival). (2026, 4*, ’15’).
Animol is the directorial debut for actor Ashley Walters. I must admit that I have a natural aversion to films set in prisons, as they scare me and stress me out. It is a situation I would NEVER want to be put in. And so, with this film, I was duly stressed out for 90 minutes!
One Mann’s Movies Rating:
Plot:
On arriving behind bars, Troy (Tut Nyuot) quickly comes into the orbit of three people who will define his life inside: murderous psycho Mason (Ryan Dean), dominant kingpin Dion (Sekou Diaby) and wisecracking Polish burgler Krystiyan (Vladyslav Baliuk). Will these relationships help him survive, or bring about his downfall?
Certification:
UK: NR; US: NR. (This film has not yet received a classification by the BBFC, but I would expect it to be a 15 based on threat, language (including homophobic language) and violence.)
Talent:
Starring: Tut Nyuot, Vladyslav Baliuk, Sekou Diaby, Stephen Graham, Ryan Dean, Sharon Duncan-Brewster.
Directed by: Ashley Walters.
Written by: Nick Love.
Running Time: 1h 32m.
Review:
Positives:
- The film is delivered in some style from the opening. We don’t see, but we hear the end of the crime being committed, the arrest of Troy (Tut Nyuot) and his processing, such that the first shot we see of him is in the prison van on his way to HMP Aycliffe Wood, a ‘Young Offenders Institution’. (The exteriors for ‘Aycliffe’ are actually The Verne Prison on the Isle of Purbeck… which I recognised as myself and the Illustrious Mrs Movie Mann walked past it while doing the South West Coast Path earlier this year!) The institution turns out to be – as rather expected – a cesspit of toxic masculinity, with a pecking order and a kingpin figure, Dion (Sekou Diaby) who Troy needs to stay on the right side of.
- The tension comes from the fact that poor Troy, and indeed his friend Krystiyan (Vladyslav Baliuk), are caught between the rock of Dion and the very hard place of the psychotic Mason, terrifyingly played by Ryan Dean. Signs on the walls saying “Zero tolerance for violence or bullying” are clearly not being adhered to!
- Tut Nyout, who was memorable in The Long Walk, gives a really terrific performance in the lead role: this is an actor that I’ve added to my “one to watch” list. It would be cool if he made the BAFTA Rising Star nominations for next year. Although getting a headline cast listing, Stephen Graham’s role as the prison’s EWO (Education Welfare Officer) is little more than a series of cameos, but as always Graham steals the show in every scene he appears in, especially in an opening scene calmly disarming a deranged Mason who is a sausage short of a sausage butty. It comes as no surprise that Graham acted together with the director Ashley Walters on TV’s Adolescence – they clearly had a quiet word on set!
Negatives:
- Prison dramas are ten-a-penny and there is no getting away with the fact that this story feels extremely familiar in terms of the tropes it covers.
- I’m afraid I struggled to understand a single word that Sekou Diaby said as Dion: this was one of the very few LFF films shown without subtitles, and quite frankly here was where I needed them!
- After an incident between Troy and Mason, it didn’t seem very credible that the script would see Mason just sucking that up for as long as he did. That didn’t ring true with me at all.
Summary Thoughts:
This is a really terrifying glimpse into what some of these YOIs must be like. This is the sort of film that should be mandatory viewing for young teenagers as a deterrent against ever ending up in one by doing something stupid (like stealing from a library!). My rating more reflects that this is a well-trodden path for movies, rather than the film-making itself: which I was very impressed with.
Recommended, provided you’ve taken your blood-pressure medication.
Where to watch?
Trailer:
The trailer for the film is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BphpDpDAJHQ.
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