A cross between “Grange Hill” and “Kids”, this brutal British drama looks at a day in the life of a group of pupils from a typical West London comprehensive school.
When fifteen year old Katie (Martin) kills herself after a violent attack from the school bully, the whole year are given the next day off. For Trife (Ameen), Jay (Deacon) and Moony (Oyeniran) they see this as an opportunity to take revenge on the sixth form heavy, Sam (Clarke), who has been making their own lives a misery.
Meanwhile, Trife’s girlfriend discovers she is pregnant and must decide whether she wants to keep the baby – not a good idea according to her coke whore best mate Becky (Winstone), because it will seriously limit the amount of unprotected sex and drugs she’ll be able to indulge in over the next nine months.
They say:
Total Film: “Give them all ASBOs! An ultra-realist snapshot of Britain today, let down by a preachy ending, but maintained by its punchy dialogue and kids.”
Guardian: “After an explosive beginning, the movie unwinds a little into a standard issue melodrama - but not before it's delivered a jolt to the system.”
Empire: “An unrealistically tight schedule of plotted events betrays nearly everything that the shooting style and capable young cast work to build.”
We say:
Richard Curtis this certainly aint, and any parents out there should be warned that “Kidulthood” makes for fairly painful viewing.
Gun crime, prostitution, bullying, drug dealing, torture and underage pregnancy are all packed into 90 minutes by star and writer Noel Clarke (last seen in “Doctor Who”) in this timely wake up call for complacent mums and dads.
Sadly, however, the dialogue may prove to be slightly tricky for most adults to follow with the leads repeatedly asking bizarre questions like "Are you dizzy, blood?" and "Do you wanna bell it?" Also the Hip Hop & Grime soundtrack featuring artists like Singa Blinga, Blak Twang and Dizzie Rascal is very much an acquired taste.
Of the lead actors Winstone, daughter of Ray, impresses most as a Vicky Pollard-style bully who believes you can’t catch STDs from oral sex because “the acids in your stomach kills them” and advises her mate to have an abortion because “she’d get really fat if she kept it”.
Overall there are probably too many outrageous incidents crammed into one day for the film to be totally believable and the ending comes across as unnecessary sermonising, but it's nice to see something different from the frothy “Notting Hill”-style rom coms that have become the standard for the British film industry.
CAST
Aml Ameen, Red Madrell, Noel Clarke, Jamie Winstone, Adam Deacon, Femi Oyeniran, Rebecca Martin
DIRECTOR
Menhaj Huda
TIME
89 mins
POSTED...
Tue 30 May 2006 at 1:19am
