''Kidulthood'' (stylised as ''KiDULTHOOD'') is a 2006 British

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by

Menhaj Huda Menhaj Huda (born 20 March 1967) is a Bangladesh-born British film and television director and producer best known for the film ''Kidulthood''. Career Huda's first directing job was the 1993 television series ''Hypnosis''. He directed ''Jump Boy ...

and written by Noel Clarke, who appeared in the film alongside

Aml Ameen Aml Eysan Ameen (; born 30 July 1985) is a British actor. He is best known for his roles as Trevor (Trife) in ''Kidulthood'' (2006), Lewis Hardy in the ITV television series ''The Bill'', Capheus in the first season of the Netflix original se ...

, Red Madrell, Adam Deacon,

Jaime Winstone Jaime Margaret Winstone (born 6 May 1985) is an English actress, best known for her roles in '' Kidulthood'', '' Dead Set'', '' After Hours'' and her portrayal of Barbara Windsor in ''Babs''. Early life and education Winstone was born in Camd ...

Femi Oyeniran Femi Oyeniran is a Nigerian-British actor and director who started his career in the cult classic ''Kidulthood'', playing the role of "Moony" in 2006. It was followed by the 2008 sequel ''Adulthood''. His first feature film as a director "It's ...

, Madeleine Fairley,

Cornell John Cornell Salmonn John (born 1963) is a British actor who has appeared in various film and television productions since 1999. He is most renowned for his role as Trife's uncle, Curtis, in the films ''Kidulthood'' (2006), ''Adulthood'' (2008) and ...

Kate Magowan Katie Victoria "Kate" Magowan (born 1 June 1975) is an English actress and producer. She has been in film, theatre, television and radio productions. Her best known role is Princess Una in the 2007 feature film ''Stardust''. She is married to a ...

, Pierre Mascolo (who also acted as executive producer), Rafe Spall and

Nicholas Hoult Nicholas Caradoc Hoult (born 7 December 1989) is an English actor. His body of work includes supporting work in big-budget mainstream productions and starring roles in independent projects in both the American and the British film industries ...

. It follows the lives of several teenagers in the West London area

Ladbroke Grove Ladbroke Grove () is an area and a road in West London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, passing through Kensal Green and Notting Hill, running north–south between Harrow Road and Holland Park Avenue. It is also a name given ...

. Clarke wrote the film based on his own experiences growing in

, which he began developing with director

and producer George Isaac. Filming began on 14th November 2004 and was filmed on location until 16th December 2004. The film is known for featuring breakout roles for Ameen, Clarke, Deacon, Winstone, Oyeniran, Spall and Hoult. Made on a budget of £560,000, ''Kidulthood'' was released theatrically on 3 March 2006 and received praise and controversy for its depection of teenage life in London. The success of the film led to two sequels: ''

Adulthood An adult is a human or other animal that has reached full growth. In human context, the term ''adult'' has meanings associated with social and legal concepts. In contrast to a " minor", a legal adult is a person who has attained the age of majo ...

'' (2008) and ''

Brotherhood Brotherhood or The Brotherhood may refer to: Family, relationships, and organizations * Fraternity (philosophy) or brotherhood, an ethical relationship between people, which is based on love and solidarity * Fraternity or brotherhood, a mal ...

'' (2016), both of which were written and directed by Clarke.

Plot

In 2002, at

, local school student Katie suffers intense physical and emotional bullying by a group of girls, as well as by another bully, Sam Peel. When her father picks her up from school that day, Sam quietly threatens to kill her if she ever tells anyone. That evening, Katie's older brother Lenny breaks into her room to discover that she has hanged herself. The following morning, the students are informed of Katie's death and are given the day off to mourn. Trevor "Trife" Hector and his best friends, Jay and Moony, decide to spend it smoking

weed A weed is a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, "a plant in the wrong place", or a plant growing where it is not wanted.Harlan, J. R., & deWet, J. M. (1965). Some thoughts about weeds. ''Economic botany'', ''19''(1), 16-24. ...

and drinking alcohol. Trife's pregnant ex-girlfriend Alisa decides to spend the day with her best friend Becky. Becky performs

oral sex Oral sex, sometimes referred to as oral intercourse, is sexual activity involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a person by another person using the mouth (including the lips, tongue, or teeth) and the throat. Cunnilingus is oral sex p ...

on an older man in return for drugs, and aggressively coaxes Alisa into joining in. The boys make their way to Sam's house on an estate to retrieve a

Game Boy The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same t ...

Sam had stolen from them the day before. Realising Sam is out, the boys also steal Sam's cannabis and Jay has sex with Sam's girlfriend Claire. Sam returns unexpectedly, but is beaten unconscious by the boys and they knock down Sam's mother as they flee. Alisa and Becky unexpectedly run into some of Katie's bullies aboard a

train In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often ...

. Alisa, feeling bad that she was not there for Katie, berates the girls for the suffering they caused. Becky accidentally reveals that Alisa is pregnant, information that the bullies threaten to spread around school in an effort to humiliate Alisa. At the next station, Alisa hurries off the train to

vomit Vomiting (also known as emesis and throwing up) is the involuntary, forceful expulsion of the contents of one's stomach through the mouth and sometimes the nose. Vomiting can be the result of ailments like food poisoning, gastroenterit ...

, whilst Becky scorns her for putting her life at risk. Having successfully sold the drugs they acquired earlier, they head to a shopping centre to buy dresses for a party later that evening, before meeting up with the boys. Jay, convinced by Trife that Alisa's baby is Sam's, falsely informs her that Trife wants nothing to do with her. Heartbroken, Alisa asks Becky if they can leave, but Becky insists on going to the party. At the same time, Trife visits his uncle Curtis, who presents him with a revolver, the same one Trife had drilled the barrel for earlier at school. Downstairs, Andreas, a customer who earlier missed a drugs payment, is tied and beaten by Curtis and Trife. Curtis then orders Trife to carve a "C" into Andreas' face with a Stanley knife in order to test him. Though visibly terrified, Trife carries out his uncle's order, and flees the house traumatised. Trife desperately tries to call Alisa, but is unsuccessful in doing so. On her way home, Alisa runs into a classmate and persuades her to go to the party with her. At the party, Becky is stood up by Moony and fails to convince Jay to have sex with her. Trevor interrupts Alisa and the other classmate who are kissing outside, and confesses his love for her. Alisa informs Trevor that the baby is definitely his – she had never slept with Sam. The two rekindle their love, but a vengeful Sam arrives at the party and attacks Trife. Alisa hurriedly tells Jay and Moony, who intervene to help Trife. Outside, Sam beats down both Trevor and Jay, whilst intimidating Moony into not interfering. Sam challenges all the other party goers who come out to watch, however Alisa, the only one unafraid of Sam, slaps him. When Sam grabs her by her hair, Trife gets to his feet and fights him to the ground. Alisa pleads with him to stop, and he ambles over to her. Sam takes this opportunity to grab his

baseball bat A baseball bat is a smooth wooden or metal club used in the sport of baseball to hit the ball after it is thrown by the pitcher. By regulation it may be no more than in diameter at the thickest part and no more than in length. Although histor ...

, and delivers a critical blow to Trife's stomach. As this occurs, Lenny arrives at the party; brandishing a gun, he forces Sam to the ground at gunpoint, and produces the

note Note, notes, or NOTE may refer to: Music and entertainment * Musical note, a pitched sound (or a symbol for a sound) in music * ''Notes'' (album), a 1987 album by Paul Bley and Paul Motian * ''Notes'', a common (yet unofficial) shortened version ...

Katie wrote before she hanged herself. Lenny prepares to kill Sam but Trife stops him with his dying breath, telling him that Sam is not worth it. Sam is almost killed when he insults Lenny after the latter begins to walk away, however the gun fails to fire. Sirens are heard in the distance, so Lenny, his accomplice, and Sam all flee the party as Trife dies before the ambulance and police arrive.

Cast

as Trevor 'Trife' Hector * Red Madrell as Alisa * Adam Deacon as Jay * Noel Clarke as Sam Peel *

as Becky *

as Moony * Madeleine Fairley as Claire *

as Curtis * Rafe Spall as Lenny *

as Blake * Rebecca Martin as Katie * James Witherspoon as Kilpo *

Ortis Deley Ortis Deley ( ) (born 2 June 1973) is a British television presenter, comedian, singer, radio DJ and actor of Ghanaian Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Gu ...

as Derek * Stephanie Di Rubbo as Shaneek *

as Stella

Production

London hip-hop group Arcane 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, some of the school scenes are shot in Twyford CE High School in Acton, similarly Alisa and Becky's journey on the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The ...

is between

and

Royal Oak The Royal Oak is the English oak tree within which the future King Charles II of England hid to escape the Roundheads following the Battle of Worcester in 1651. The tree was in Boscobel Wood, which was part of the park of Boscobel House. C ...

stations.

Critical reception

''Kidulthood'' has received a generally positive critical response. Writing in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'',

Miranda Sawyer Miranda Caroline Sawyer (born January 1967) is an English author, journalist and broadcaster. Education and early life Sawyer was born in Bristol and grew up in Wilmslow, Cheshire with her brother Toby, who is an actor. Sawyer was educated at ...

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 ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'', 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 The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print c ...

'' 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".Review
''The Daily Mirror'', 3 March 2006

Sequels

The film spawned a trilogy, receiving two

sequels A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

: ''

'' was released in 2008, which was written and also directed by Noel Clarke, and then ''

'' in 2016.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kidulthood 2006 films 2000s coming-of-age drama films 2000s crime drama films 2006 independent films 2000s teen drama films Black British films Black British cinema Black British mass media British coming-of-age drama films British crime drama films British independent films British teen drama films 2000s English-language films Films about interracial romance Films set in 2002 Films set in London Films shot in London Hood films Films with screenplays by Noel Clarke Teen crime films 2006 drama films Films directed by Menhaj Huda 2000s British films