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Kidulthood (rendered as KiDULTHOOD) is a 2006 British drama film about the life of several teenagers in Ladbroke Grove and Latimer Road area of Inner West London. It was directed by Menhaj Huda and written by Noel Clarke, who also stars in the film and directed the sequel, Adulthood.
[edit] SynopsisThe film opens showing a school at lunch break with children playing football, while middle class student Blake (Nicholas Hoult) gives out invitations to a party. The scene switches to Trevor (Aml Ameen) using the drill press, boring out an unseen object later found out to be converting a replica gun into a real one. Alisa (Red Madrell) comments on how she "doesn't feel well" and thinking about not attending the party, but her best friend Becky (Jaime Winstone) encourages her to go. We see Sam (Noel Clarke) spitting into Katie's hair and asking her where his girlfriend Claire (Madeleine Fairley) is, but Katie says she doesn't know. Jay (Adam Deacon) is seen kissing and fingering Claire; she asks Jay if he is scared and he replies negatively. After break, Sam and his gang encounter Trife, Moony and Jay and after insulting them and forcing them to pose for pictures, steal Jays sister's Game Boy and slaps Trife. In class, Trife defends Katie from a group of girls led by Sam, beating her up.Katie commits suicide and the whole year group at school are given the day off school. The film then uses the "day in the life of" device, beginning with a group of "kidults" getting the day off school after Katie's suicide as a result of being bullied. The film then slowly builds up to the climactic house party. It revolves around three teenagers: Trevor, who is more commonly known by his street name Trife, Jay and Moony (Femi Oyeniran). Trife is being tempted into the gangster lifestyle by his uncle who requests him to do illegal errands, but simultaneously Alisa is offering a chance to a better life. However, a rumour that Alisa has slept with Sam might influence this life-changing decision. Trife has to deal with the school bully, Sam, who is out for revenge after Jay steals his girlfriend Claire and his Weed, and after Trife, Jay and Moony beat Sam up in his own house during a break-in to retrieve Jay's sister's Game Boy Advance SP. On their escape from Sam's house, they push Sam's mother down the stairs by accident, which further enrages him. At the same time, Alisa has just learned that she’s pregnant, and her friend Becky wants to take her out on a drug and shopping binge. Alisa considers whether to keep the baby and wonders if Trife (who thinks it's Sam's baby) will help her raise their child. After Moony and Jay abandon Trife because of an argument, he goes to see his Uncle, who forces Trife to torture a man from earlier who forgot to pay him by giving him a Glasgow Smile. After seeing this Trife decides what his decision is and abandons his gangster lifestyle. The film heads toward a conclusion with Katie's brother set on revenge for his sister’s suicide and with Sam looking for payback at the house party thrown by Blake. Trife and Alisa reconcile and decide to have the baby, whilst Becky tries to hook up first with Moony and then with Jay. Sam arrives, armed with a baseball bat, and attacks Trife who is helped by Jay, who is also beaten. Trife is seriously injured after a repeated blows to his stomach and head. Moony steps in holding a knife, but cannot bring himself to stab Sam, and is beaten as well. Katie's brother Lenny arrives, brandishing a pistol he procured from Trife's uncle. He threatens Sam, who cowers and cries in fright, but Trife prevents Sam's murder with his final words of "He's not worth it". Then, as Katie's brother is leaving, Sam insults him. Lenny fires the pistol, only to have it backfire due to a poor conversion from a replica to a real gun. Lenny and Sam flee the scene as the paramedics arrive to help Trife, as Jay insults the police for not turning up sooner and Moony restrains him. But it's too late, Trife's injuries from the baseball bat are fatal and he dies in Alisa's arms. [edit] Cast
[edit] Critical reactionWriting in The Guardian, Miranda Sawyer called the film "a rollicking UK youth ride, cinematically filmed, persuasively acted and bumped along by a fantastic all-British soundtrack... It's also very funny, laced with a humour of the slapped-in-the-face-with-a-kipper sort: you can't help laughing because it's so outrageous".[1] Stephen Armstrong in The Times, however, said "the only people who should be shocked by this film are people who have never been teenagers. What Kidulthood does is take all the violence, sex and intoxication experienced in a teenage year and condense it into a single day, because that's far more marketable than a film about eight kids spending four hours sitting on the swings wondering what to do".[2] The Daily Mirror described it as being "as potent as a shot of vodka before breakfast - a harrowing, uncompromisingly bleak but thoughtful look at the anguish of being young and poor in Britain".[3] [edit] ProductionAccording to the director, Kidulthood cost just short of £800,000 to make. London Hip-hop group Arkane wrote the title track for the film. The film was principally shot in the actual areas in which it is set; for example, Alisa and Becky's journey on the London Underground is between Ladbroke Grove and Royal Oak stations. A sequel, Adulthood, was released in June 2008, written and directed by Clarke. [edit] References
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