Steve is a 2025 drama film directed by Tim Mielants and written by Max Porter, based on his 2023 novella Shy. It had its world premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, and was released in selected UK cinemas (and in the United States) on 19 September 2025. It will be streamed on Netflix on Friday (3 October), which I think is a bit of a shame – it is an intense viewing experience and is therefore best watched on a big screen free of the myriad distractions of watching at home on a television.

The title character, Steve (Cillian Murphy, who Mielants also recently directed in the rather wonderful Small Things Like These) is the headteacher in charge of a residential school for boys with severe behavioural difficulties, so severe in fact that the school’s nickname is Last Chance. It is Steve’s job, with the help of his staff of five, which includes Amanda (Tracey Ullman) and Jenny (Emily Watson), to care for their small group of delinquent teenage boys, I think nine in total, one of whom is Shy (Jay Lycurgo). If you are thinking: that shouldn’t be difficult – six staff to nine pupils – think again – these kids are very, very wild indeed; and it doesn’t help that Steve has his own alcohol and substance abuse problem.

The action takes place in one 24-hour period during which the school is to be featured in a social-interest segment of a regional TV news programme, and so there is a camera crew present. Add to that a visit from the local authority to discuss the ongoing feasibility (or not) of the school and a visit from the local MP (Roger Allam, brilliant, as ever) who sees the film crew as a photo opportunity, and this is a pressure cooker set to blow.

Steve is as fast and furious as Small Things Like these was slow and gently understated; Murphy is excellent, as are the entire supporting cast – there are simply no weak links.

I think it is important to note that Steve is a film based on the novel Shy, rather than an adaptation of the novel. The novel takes place in the chaotic head of Shy, one of the boys, over a couple of hours in the early morning. This period is towards the end of the film. I had not read the novel prior to seeing the film, however I don’t think that matters – I have read it since and greatly enjoyed it, although I suspect that prior to seeing the film, the style of the novel might have irritated me. The film, with Steve as the central character seems almost incidental to the novel, but the two together form one complete piece of art – they do not tell the same story, but they dovetail perfectly.

Steve is an excellent film, and whilst you could wait for Netflix, I think the cinema will prove a much more rewarding experience.