Customer Reviews

Kidulthood

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Extreme Teen film very well made and directed! Dealing with the streets of the U.K. this film was impressing in that it kept your attention from beginning to end. No doubt filled with controversy and plagued with foul language this film deals with suicide, drugs, sex and all of the temptations out there tempting our youth today. An interesting take as a U.S. viewer to see many of the same problems in England. One of the main actors (to the best of my knowledge) also directed this. Not one I would recommend for Children but worth watching for sure. A few parts will make you cringe especially if you are a parent. Thanks for reading :)

I can understand why some in various online reviews that I have seen scattered across websites have dismissed the movie as 'lacking' and 'chavvy', and I once thought the same... But that was several years ago before I opened my eyes to the world a little more.

The movie is a portrayal of a mix of characters from West London, and follows inner city life of gang culture were the gap between the rich and poor is considerably high. It examines a minority (but growing) of a youth scene and puts us in their shoes as it portrays a day in their lives, boredom which is filled with alcohol, drugs, and violence with the only motivation to survive for the next day. The movie does not beat around the bush with its portrayal and condenses many possible troubles the youth now faces in a single day, including gang violence, drug and alcohol abuse, teenage pregnancy, suicide, bullying, murder, prostitution, and much more. It is quite easy to dismiss those within this culture as the 'dregs of society', but instead this movie forces me to re-examine my position on that, and makes me look for the various and numerous socio-economic reasons as to why this snapshot of British youth is the way it is.

Even the rather obvious portmanteau of 'Kid' and 'Adulthood' should portray what this movie is about rather clearly -- Kids, just kids, who are thrust into something no kid should ever have to deal with, who are forced to grow up faster than they should.

With the growing rates in gang crime and some of the worst gang violence in British history, teenage birth rates in Europe, and growing suicide rates, this movie is just the sucker punch of reality that is needed.

I needn't review the plot as the plot can be read better than I could put into detail here on sites such as Wikipedia, but instead I think I will leave it as my opinion on the message it wishes to evoke.

It is a brave movie to have made, and for me at least, works 100%.

As a cultural historian, this is the first film since To Sir with Love to attempt a serious examination of British popular culture through its youth. Not surprisinlgy, the young people are vulgar, violent, and way too casual about both drug use and sexual liaisons. They are an honest lot and pretty reflective of what New Brit culture is. In addition to shining a spotlight on young people, Kidulthood exposes the adults around them who facilitate and profit from their behaviors. Kidulthood is demonstrative of an "of-age" society too engrossed in themselves to bear witness to the slow demise of their own children, often at the exploitive hands of bullies, adult sex fiends, and criminals. Noel Clarke is an absolute beast in this film -- and beautiful in every regard being so.

Taking place over a time span of less than 48 hrs, Kidulthood is an in your face drama about growing up in Londons western suburbs. Focusing on the lives of 3 teenagers, the story is basically 'a day in the life' as we follow the youths and their friends around before their stories come together in a powerful and climatic ending.
For Trife, our main character, violence is an everyday part of life, him and his friends regularly get into fights, and he is being lured closer into his uncle's west side gang. Living with his single mother in a small apartment, the only way out for Trife seems to be working for his uncle. But he must decide on a life of crime or to support his pregnant girlfriend.
Alisa has just found out she is pregnant, her best friend has commited suicide, and her boyfriend has just dumped her. Feeling all alone in the world she often gives sexual favours in exchange for drugs, and is constantly harrassed by Sam, who may or may not be her babies father.
Sam is the protagonist, he regularly bullies kids at his school and uses violence to get anything he wants including girls. It is sam who sets off the chain of events that lead to the dramatic conclusion, by threatening to kill a student by the name of katie, who was the friend of Alisa's that killed herself.
UK's version of 'kids', it may not be as good, but it certainly gets its point across, shocking at times, but is a blunt assessment of todays youth and gang culture. While the acting at times isn't great, it is made up for by some great directing, you would never guess the movie was made on such a low budget. The only other negative point was the lack of sub-titles, which at times were necessary as the West London accent can be tough to understand, and this will certainly be a turn off for American audiences.
Overall a very powerful drama, with a great modern soundtrack, watch it if you liked 'kids', or 'Menace II Society', and look out for the sequel 'Adulthood'.

This film portrays a day in the life of some SCHOOL KIDS (in inner London), it wasn't trying to portray gun gangs etc to the world, it WAS portraying teenagers, in school uniform. It was trying to portray the contemporary garbage talk and barely legible English which our future subjects currently speak in their school yard p*ssing grounds and inner city pit holes. And yes, seeing as in my line of work I come across degenerates like these day in an day out, it does do a basic good job of roughly portraying them, and their attitude, however the 4'6" types wouldn't get away with half they did in the movie.

The acting is poor - over acting is the norm here, your typical stereotypes abound. The scenarios really take leaps of faith, bordering on the fantastical. I mean, the day started with bullying, main dessert; a suicide, was followed up by a pregnancy, bouts of prostitution, under age sex, Paedaphilia, drugs, gun running, Heroin, Glaswegian Smiles, torture, more beatings, girl bashing, humiliation, more drugs, drink, insults, mum bashing, theft, robbery, and ended with a party, and two murders! Wow! A day in the life of your common or lesser spotted teenager school kid in Ladbroke Grove (and yes Ladbroke Grove is a dump) - oh and let's not forget the '6th former' (Sam) How he got into the 6th form? I suppose he probably gave his teacher a nosh or something, as there's no way on Earth reprobates like that would ever get there!
The Director also seemed to be portraying unplanned school age teenage Pregnancies as acceptable!
As a film, it doesn't tell me anything i don't know already, so it is entertaining without being a work of


What the film DOES do is portray the generation as egotistical, selfish, cold, decadent, greedy, self obsessed, cold heartless, materialistic, disrespectful, miserable, unhappy, intellectually retarded, linguistically limited, ignorant, shallow, amoral, immoral, vain, narcissistic, cruel, spiritually lacking, uneducated and pathetic. And to all intents and purposes, it portrays this with much vigoor and succeeds!
Having been working amongst such persons daily, and being related to such types I know them well,and see their flaws and have seen their gradual erosion. and pity them more than anything else. Urban society has degenerated to such an extent that the future is very bleak!
This is our future, and God help us!

What the film does NOT do is encourage the youth to progress on from this worthlessness. Yes yes sometimes I thought the film was self obsessed in itself, It doesn't answer any questions, thus it FAILS

Two stories entwine (sp?) in this film about London youth. This film did have elements of "Kids," "Boyz N Da Hood," and "Menace II Society," but it was still original and jaw-dropping.
This film shows violent, disrespectful, evildoers, of both genders and many races. They are unlovable characters for which it is hard to root. I thought of the clich'e "If you lie down with dogs" as I watched this. Since the characters are so nasty to their enemies and strangers, it's no surprise that they become nasty with each other.
While American films can be multi-culty, study after study after study show that the US is highly segregated in schools, neighborhoods, and especially marriage. Here you see white, Black, and Asian Brits intermingling frequently. Not one character disapproves of interracial coupling, while in most American films, there is at least one character who would make a fuss about it. Seeing the ethnic bonding throughout the film seemed so unlike the US.
This film also shows a gray area regarding racism in the UK. For example, Black males have trouble getting a cab, but once they do ride in one, they stiff the cabbie. Later, the Black males are spied upon by store security. In the same way that "The Color Puprle" needed Sophia's story in order to show that while Celie was a domestic violence victim, all the characters still lived in a racially-oppressive context, here these mean kids also facee structural inequalities.
I kept asking myself, "Who is the audience for this film!?" I assume most films with young actors are attracting a young market. However, I did wonder if the film was meant to make adult scream, "What is this world coming to?!" This was just another film portraying youth as a "lost generation." Still, I wonder if young viewers would get a kick or laugh watching their parents and elders squirm at the destructive acts shown in this film.
This was an interesting study in how groups oftentimes exacerbate the bad deeds of individual members. The film does try to have a redemptive quality by its end. Further, this has a great British rap soundtrack that rap fans in the US may love. Sensitive viewers should stay away from this film, but the work is a valuable cultural product.