Film Review – Steve

Cillian Murphy hit a career peak in 2023, dazzling critics and audiences with his portrayal of “the father of the atomic bomb” in Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer.” The feature was an enormous hit and eventually dominated awards season, including an Academy Award win for Murphy. He had the attention of Hollywood, likely finding himself in a professional position where he could have any role he wanted for his follow-up performance. However, Murphy walked away, boldly chasing his artistic interests instead of financial ones, teaming up with writer/director Tim Mielants for 2024’s little-seen “Small Things like These,” and they pair up again for “Steve,” which is another low-budget study of emotional instability. It’s a small-scale understanding of a nervous breakdown, putting Mielants to work getting under the skin of the characters, exploring a special level of agitation found on a particularly dark day. “Steve” is raw and periodically potent, finding Murphy excellent in a picture that finds him gasping for breath for 90 minutes as the helmer aims to bring a pressurized situation to life. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com