Review of Kidulthood (2006) by Dane P — 01 Nov 2009

Never before or since have I seen a movie so bleak and unpleasent. I really struggle to find anything to like about this movie. Most of the characters are unpleasent, and do unpleasent things to other people, and the characters who are not unpleasent have unpleasent things done to them.

Unpleasentness is not neccesarily a bad thing. One of my all-time favourites, Oldboy, is extremely unpleasent, more so even than this. However, it had a protagonist who was in a situation which makes the viewer want to continue watching. The intruigue and twisting plot keeps the audience hooked, and makes the unpleasentness worthwhile. In Kidulthood's case, here is nothing in this movie which would compel me to continue watching it. There is no sense of hope, no feeling of ambition, no clue that any kind of uplifting event or social enlightenment can occur by the film's climax.

It feels more like a morbid sketch show than a narrative driven movie, jumping from scene to scene with little continuity between them besides a thread of plot point. For the most part, it is a series of overblown, archetypal activities, which takes the stereotypes of modern British teenagers WAY too far, and represents my demographic in a way which makes Little Britain's Vicky Pollard look like a dignified citizen.

This movie left me feeling miserable and angry. It is a strong contender for my least favourite movie of all time, and if its possible, I would never watch this movie again.