Kidulthood

Kidulthood
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Menhaj Huda
Produced by	Menhaj Huda Amir Madani George Isaac Damian Jones
Written by	Noel Clarke
Starring	Aml Ameen Red Madrell Adam Deacon Jaime Winstone Femi Oyeniran Madeleine Fairley Cornell John Kate Magowan Pierre Mascolo with Rafe Spall Noel Clarke
Music by	The Angel
Cinematography	Brian Tufano
Editing by	Victoria Boydell
Distributed by	Revolver Entertainment
Release date(s)	3 March 2006 (2006-03-03)
Running time	91 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	£600,000
Box office	£453,876

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. The characters in the film generally behave in a violent, lawless manner and are reckless and antisocial, with petty theft, serious violence, and drug taking endemic in the culture portrayed.

Plot

The film follows two days in the lives of a group of 15-year olds from a mixed-income area of West London. The story focuses mainly upon Trevor, known as "Trife" (Aml Ameen), and Alisa (Red Madrell) who is pregnant by him. Other characters are less developed.

The school bully, Sam Peel (Noel Clarke), is the main antagonist. Another student, Katie (Rebecca Martin), is being physically and emotionally bullied by a group of girls led by Shaneek (Stephanie Di Rubbo), and is separately threatened by Sam. Her parents do not know the extent of the bullying. After being picked up from school, a distraught Katie flees to her bedroom, writes a note, and hangs herself. The students are then given a day off for mourning, but instead prepare for a party. Trevor and his best friends: Jay (Adam Deacon), and Moony (Femi Oyeniran) spend the day stealing, trying to talk to women, drinking alcohol, and smoking cannabis. Alisa and her friend Becky (Jamie Winstone) decide to get drunk and high before the party, despite Alisa's pregnancy. Alisa has recently discovered that she is pregnant and she is unsure as to how to cope with the news. Becky takes Alisa to an older man's house where they perform sexual acts in return for drugs. Becky is the instigator and Alisa feels that she has to follow her friend's actions. Meanwhile, the boys trick their way into Sam's house in order to retrieve a Gameboy he had stolen earlier, but then also steal drugs. When Sam returns and threatens them, the boys overpower him, beat him, and escape followed by Sam's girlfriend, Claire (Madeleine Fairley), whom Jay had seduced. In the process, they knock Sam's mother to the floor, which is later used as a pretext for revenge by Sam.

Alisa and Becky arrive at a shopping centre, having sold their drugs to buy new dresses. They meet up with Moony and Jay; Jay tells Alisa that Trevor doesn't want her or the baby, and that she should get out of Trevor's life. Alisa decides to return home alone as Becky wants to stay with the boys. In the meantime, Trevor has gone to meet up with his Uncle Curtis (Cornell John). He sees Katie's brother, Lenny (Rafe Spall) at Curtis's house, but they do not speak. Trevor tells Curtis that he wants to work for him, and then issues him with a revolver, which Trevor had previously made by drilling the barrel of a starting pistol on a pillar drill at school. Trevor then is taken downstairs to a man, Andreas, seen earlier getting drugs from Curtis and has now been tied up and tortured for failing to stick to an agreement about payment. Curtis orders Trevor to cut the man's face with a Stanley knife. Trevor carries out the order, but then flees from the house, throws the gun into the river and goes to find Alisa. Alisa is on her way home when she sees a classmate, who persuades her to come to a party with him to cheer her up.

Trevor arrives at the party, finds Alisa, and confesses he loves her. Alisa tells him that she never slept with Sam, and that the baby definitely belongs to Trevor. Sam later arrives at the party and beats Trevor up with a baseball bat. Alisa runs into the house to get Mooney and Jay. In the ensuing fight, Trevor falls to the ground, critically injured. Katie's older brother arrives, carrying a gun and asking for Sam. He is about to execute Sam but stops momentarily, when Trevor says that Sam isn't worth it. Lenny begins to walk away but Sam insults him so he turns and fires, but the gun explodes in his hand. He gets back in to his car and drives away. Trevor dies before the ambulance and police arrive.

Cast

• Aml Ameen as Trevor / 'Trife'
• Red Madrell as Alisa
• Adam Deacon as Jay
• Noel Clarke as Sam
• Jaime Winstone as Becky
• Femi Oyeniran as Moony
• Madeleine Fairley as Claire
• Cornell John as Curtis
• Rafe Spall as Lenny
• Nicholas Hoult as Blake
• Rebecca Martin as Katie
• James Witherspoon as Kilpo
• Ortis Deley as Derek, Moony's brother
• Stephanie Di Rubbo as Shaneek

Production

According to the director, Kidulthood cost £600,000 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 around London W11; for example, Alisa and Becky's journey on the London Underground is between Ladbroke Grove and Royal Oak stations.

Sequel

The sequel, Adulthood, was released in June 2008, which was written and also directed by Noel Clarke.

Critical reaction

Kidulthood has received a generally positive critical response. Writing 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". 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". 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".

External links

• Official website
• Kidulthood at the Internet Movie Database
• Kidulthood at AllRovi
• Kidulthood at Rotten Tomatoes
• Kidulthood on Myspace