When a former boxer is offered a gig as an enforcer with the local drug mafia, life seems on the uptick—but the demands weigh heavily as he makes inroads with his young son.

Cosmo Jarvis is magnetic as a man of tender feelings but brutal deeds in Nick Rowland’s muscular debut feature. With thumping music, striking neons, and a restless turn from Barry Keoghan, Calm With Horses paints a tragicomic portrait of bruised masculinity in a criminal world verging on the absurd.