Director: Menhaj Huda
Writer: Noel Clarke (Screenplay)
Starring: Aml Ameen, Red Madrell, Noel Clarke, Adam Deacon, Jaime Winstone, Femi Oyeniran, Nicholas Hoult
Plot: A day in the life of a group of troubled 15-year-olds growing up in west London.
Tagline – Before adulthood comes…
Runtime: 1 Hour 29 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Streets Trouble 101
Story: Kidulthood starts as we follow the school teenagers in a west London school, where Sam (Clarke) controls people, Trife (Ameen) is starting to break into the drug world, while Alisa (Madrell) is dealing with an unexpected pregnancy, where the bullying through the school is shocking to see, with the gang mentality leading to the suicide of one of the students.
We follow the day after the suicide, where Alisa and Becky (Winstone) go on a bender, drinks and drugs, while Trife, Jay (Deacon) and Moony (Oyeniran) are getting into trouble with their rivalry with Sam.
Thoughts on Kidulthood
Characters – Trife or Trevor does make drugs with his time in school, he learns his ex is now pregnant and is getting tired of the gangs around the area, causing the problems in his life, Alisa is pregnant after teaching on Trevor, she doesn’t know who the father is and is still in the shock of seeing a friend from school commit suicide. Sam is the biggest bully in the school, he pushes people into doing his dirty work and forces people to do what he wants with intimidation. We do see the friends of Trevor’s who are more trouble than they seem to be, the selfish friend Becky who doesn’t help Alisa through her struggle and the people that are the brunt of the abuse. Most of these characters are not likable, while Trevor and Alisa are trying to escape this world for the better, they are still making the naïve decisions.
Performances – The performances in the film are strong with Aml Ameen, Red Madrell and Noel Clarke bring the strength and weaknesses in their characters to life, showing just how aggressive the world around them is.
Story – The story here follows the day in the life of a group of teenagers in the aftermath of a suicide of a bullied classmate, showing how they are out of control and making mistakes which will stop them escaping the vicious circle. This story does take focus on how the gang mentality in the London can take a hold on young people, forcing them to make bad decisions in life which will ruin their chances of a future. We do have a couple of important themes, first is the underaged pregnancy and how to deal with it, while the suicide doesn’t get enough attention, because nobody seems to get to pay for their behavior for this incident. The themes of growing up don’t seem to get the full attention because the young people seem like they are in a position where they simply can’t be saved from.
Crime/Romance – The world the characters are in shows us just how the criminal behavior of the youngsters is in , will continue to grow, with the romance being what could have been, with everyone seemingly willing to cheat on each other.
Settings – The film uses the London setting to show how the gangs are always protecting and shows the divide between people in such a close area.
Scene of the Movie – The party.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The characters.
Final Thoughts – This is an interesting look at how the neighbourhood would act around London, even though it wants to try and tackle bigger issues, it fails to address them well enough.
Overall: Interesting Vision of London.
