Kidulthood Kidulthood movie The film is based around the exploits of five 15 year olds as they are given the day off from school due to the suicide of one of their bullied classmates. A ‘day in the life’ premise gives this car crash of a story little opportunity to instil any real depth into the characters, yet this is not to say the parts are poorly played, quite the opposite. In fact the young cast act their hearts out, along with the soundtrack (disproportionately good) and visual aesthetic are the few redeeming features. Aml Ameen, Femi Oyerian and Adam Deacon play the three lead male roles; Trevor (Trife), Moony and Jay with conviction respectively. We see the three boys go through a particularly difficult day, dealing with both racial and age based tensions as well as the childish banter between them, which turns to fighting. Yet these exchanges are fraught with colloquialisms that often threaten to overbear the generally weak dialogues between these characters. The antagonist of the tale is Sam (played by the scripts writer, Noel Clarke), also the character responsible for the bullied girls suicide, however both his verbal and mental battles with Trife and company do not amount to much, filling in gaps as opposed to creating more depth. The finale of the film takes place at a house party, that inevitably goes wrong, with a conclusion about as surprising as a Necro CD. It is left to the young female thespians, Red Mandrell (Alisa) and Jamie Winstone (Becky, yes, Rays little one) to provide the best chemistry as they shag, snort and shop their way through the day. In particular, Winstons portrayal of the impious Becky has certain accuracy’s that are eerily reminiscent of uncomfortable journeys home on the bus. Director Menhaj Huda wisely chose to shoot the film with a documentary ambience and the choice of West London worked well exhibiting the middle class Victorian house/council estate mixture. A contrast to most of the foppish, rom-com rubbish that is usually set there. Media comparisons with Larry Clark’s stylised debauchery in Kids and Mathieu Kassovitz La Haine are highly flattering, I’m not even sure if its superior to Bulletboy. Overall a few questions are meekly asked, why do kids’ do drugs, bully, wear hoods, etc? Although perhaps the point of Kidulthood isn’t to answer or ask sociological and moral dilemmas, but then again I am not entirely sure what is the point of it. A contrast to most of the foppish, rom-com rubbish that is usually set there - Kane © ukhh.com 1999 - 2006