Kidulthood — A Review

19th October 2019.

It’s a Saturday night.

It is a Saturday night, isn’t it … ?

Yes: it is.

I suppose everyone of us is allowed amount of doubt, trepidation and uncertainty.

Especially on a quiet night in: when you have little cash, little to do …

But at least have access to a large collection of films you’ve not seen: and an Apple TV to watch them on.

And something experimental you think you should try: if you get around to watching a movie …

Yes: I’m on YouTube.

And yes, I’m a YouTube partner.

Yes: I’d like to make money from any ads that get placed on them.


And yes: I’m thinking I should maybe add video content to my channel where I review films.

Or, at least, point Youtube viewers at the reviews I post here.

Point A?   Let me know if the extra video does something.

Point B?   I’ve just watched a fantastic film.

Point C … ?   The film in question is the Noel Clarke penned Kidulthood.

Point D … ?   I’m impressed with Kidulthood … !

~≈†≈~

Directed by Menhaj Huda and penned by Noel Clarke, Kidulthood follows a group teens in West London.

It sees Katie (Rebecca Martin) getting heavily bullied at school …


And, once at home?

Locking herself in her room, only to be found hours later, hanging from the light fitting …

The following day … ?

Sees Trevor — Trife* (Aml Ameen) — meeting with his Uncle Curtis (Cornell John): so he can pass on a replica gun that’s been converted into a real one.

The rest of the day … ?

Sees Trife spending his day with friends Moony and Jay (Femi Oyeniran and Adam Deacon) … whilst Alisa (Red Madrell), his on again, off again, girlfriend deals with the fact she is pregnant by him …

And whilst her best friend, Becky (Jaime Winstone) organises things in a way Alisa really didn’t want to know about.

All this … ?

All this and Sam (Noel Clarke) is doing the rounds: angry after being blamed for Alisa’s pregnancy, implicated in Katie’s death … and looking for trouble as a result.

The party that everyone has been invited to?

Is going to end in tears …

~≈†≈~

Now …

Am I impressed with Kidulthood?

Yes I am.

There’s a bunch of sympathetic, but dangerous teens, serious villains — in the shape of Clarke’s Sam, and Cornell’s Uncle Curtis† — passersby who — like so many in the real world — who walk on by.

The directing … ?

The cinematography?

The editing?

Soundtrack … ?

Not least, Clarke’s writing‡?

All superb: all blending together to remind us that the disenfranchised forced into crime aren’t far away.

Literally, in my case.

That dawn was on the block of flats next to mine: some of the kids involved little older than the characters in Kidulthood.

I think, right now?

Kidulthood’s story of disposed youth struggling to face responsibilities their not yet capable of understanding?

Is both relevant.

True to life.

And incredibly watchable.

Kidulthood

★★★★

*        It rhymes with tribe.

†        I’ve seen some nasty on screen villains, in my time.   Cornell, as Curtis?   Is scary … and unnervingly realistic.   There’s people like Uncle Curtis I’ve served in pubs.

‡        I’ve said it before, and will no doubt say it, again: I see Noel Clarke’s involved in a film, I know I’m going to see something that’s solid entertainment.   Kidulthood is entertaining … and riveting …