“Good Boy,” Funded by Our Film Fund, Impresses Critics in the U.S.: “Absurdly Engaging”
Leading American newspapers, the New York Times and Los Angeles Times, have published positive reviews of Jan Komasa’s new thriller, Good Boy, funded by the Kuyavia-Pomerania Film Fund.
Good Boy has been showing in Polish cinemas since 6 March. On the same day, it premiered in the United States under the title Heel. The thriller follows Tommy, a young man immersed in a world of drugs and violence. One day, the 19-year-old is kidnapped by a mysterious man who aims to rehabilitate him and turn him into a “good boy.”
The cast features major stars. Anson Boon, known for his performances in 1917 and the miniseries Pistol about the Sex Pistols, plays the lead. Stephen Graham, familiar from This Is England, Pirates of the Caribbean, and The Irishman, portrays Chris—the man who abducts Tommy and keeps him chained in a basement. Andrea Riseborough plays Chris’s wife; she was previously nominated for an Oscar for her role in For Leslie.
Critical Reception in the U.S.
Prestigious American newspapers have praised Komasa’s new film on their websites. Robert Abele of the Los Angeles Times calls it a “disturbing thriller” and highlights the excellent acting:
“The lively Boon reveals the sensitivity of his audacious character with stunning effect—Tommy is a challenging role, but Boon knows how to make it compelling and suspenseful. Graham, as a perceptive patriarch, is enticingly different from the commanding father in This Is England, while the wonderfully eccentric Riseborough perfectly exploits the severity of her silent mother. Monika Frajczyk and Kit Rakusen are also ideal,” wrote Abele.
The critic also praises the director:
“Under Komasa’s guidance, the combination of a twisted fairy tale and a moralistic terror in Bartek Bartosik’s script is absurd, yet powerful, giving Heel a sufficiently twisted psychological atmosphere so that it almost always feels like more than the sum of its parts.”
Abele concludes by comparing Komasa’s film to the early works of Roman Polański:
“Last year, Komasa made another family thriller, Anniversary, about politics destroying a happy home. But this equation is already familiar. Heel is Tolstoy’s maxim of a happy family cooked up in a mad scientist’s laboratory. Though at times it is clear the film is idea-driven, its elegant, unsettling atmosphere carries a boldness reminiscent of the great mind-game era of the 1960s that gave us The Servant, The Collector, and the early psychological horrors of Komasa’s compatriot Roman Polański.”
Jeannette Catsoulis of the New York Times also wrote very positively about the film, calling it “absurdly engaging.” She awarded it the prestigious Critic’s Pick, noting Anson Boon’s “electrifying” performance, the nuanced acting of Stephen Graham and Andrea Riseborough, as well as Michał Dymek’s stark cinematography. The film is described as “thought-provoking,” portraying social decay wrapped in the conventions of a psychological thriller.
Upcoming International Screenings
From 20 March, Good Boy will be shown in cinemas in the United Kingdom. Earlier, the British public broadcaster BBC included it in a list of the 10 best films to watch in March, ranking Jan Komasa’s thriller in third place.
About the Director
Jan Komasa is known for Suicide Room, Warsaw 44, and the Oscar-nominated Corpus Christi (Best International Feature). Good Boy is his second English-language film; his debut English-language psychological thriller, Anniversary, premiered last November and starred major Hollywood actors Diane Lane and Kyle Chandler.
Among the producers of Good Boy is one of Poland’s most acclaimed filmmakers, Jerzy Skolimowski—a director, screenwriter, actor, poet, and painter. He has received numerous prestigious awards, including the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival for Start. In 2022, he was awarded the Film Award of the Marshal of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Region, named after Pola Negri.
Department of Promotion
12 March 2026