Kidulthood: A blueprint for UK cinema
15th August 2016
Share This Article:
When Kidulthood was released in 2006 it kick-started a game-changing movie franchise that laid-bare the reality of British inner city life.
Aside from its daring humour and innuendos, it examined every cliché about youth imaginable, such as juvenile sex, recreational drug taking, unplanned pregnancies and delinquency. Written and delivered in the vernacular of the streets, it was for inner-city youth because it spoke directly to them and not just about them. Us!
Kidulthood humanised young people.
It concluded that we could laugh and cry like Trife (Aml Ameen), love and lose like Alisa (Red Madrell) and constantly grapple between doing the right and wrong thing – as Moony (Femi Oyeniran), Jay (Adam Deacon) and most of the characters did whilst attempting to find their way in life.
We learned that it was alright to suffer duplicitous friends like Becky (Jaime Winstone), as long as you eventually cut them off and free them into obscurity.
And yet, through Sam (Noel Clarke) we come to eventually learn how and why we should not let our mistakes define us. The franchise was and is like a peer; like a wise teacher from whom there is much to learn and many experiences to share.
When Adulthood came out two years later in 2008, it performed exceptionally well at the UK Box Office during its opening weekend, racking up over £1 million and ranking above popular US blockbusters The Incredible Hulk and Sex and the City.

- Article continues below...
- More stories you may like...
- Writer-director and star of Darlin', Pollyanna McIntosh, discusses horror, feminism and catharsis
- Too Old To Die Young review - Nicolas Winding Refn's cynical, gorgeous critique of modern America
- Hollywood two years on from #MeToo: where can we go from here?
You might also like...
People who read this also read...
TRENDING
TRENDING CHANNELS
CONTRIBUTOR OF THE MONTH