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 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 …
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