Kidulthood
(2004/Image Entertainment)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Film: C+
Like
Larry Clark’s Kids, Menhaj Huda’s Kidulthood (2004) wants to be a raw
portrait of the ugly side of street kids having a street life with trouble in
and out of school, though the difference here is that this takes place in
England. That means different slang,
different place, but the same mistakes, wastes of time, life and
opportunities. Like the Clark hit, this
also has problems with showing the events and wallowing in them, but Huda and
the Noel Clarke screenplay have ironic distance enough to show the events with
some point. Too bad that is uneven.
When one
girl is bullied so bad that she kills herself, school is suspended for a while
pending an investigation, but that only makes the bad situation worse for
everyone else involved. With one less
responsibility they cannot even take advantage of, tempers soar and the
unresolved and boiling reach their raw point of no return. Unfortunately, it is everything we have seen
before and though it is with variation, some good acting and directing, Kidulthood says little new and if it
was not going to offer any solutions, it could have at least offered new
perspective on the problems and issues.
Too bad it didn’t and at 91 minutes, stops too short. Some thought it went further than suspension
of disbelief would have it, but it was rarely false in that way. Now you can see for yourself.
The
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image has some good shots, but is usually soft
throughout here, though I wondered if it would have looked better on Blu-ray,
having not seen a 35mm print. This was
shot in Super 35mm by Brian Tufano (Quadrophenia,
Lords of Discipline, Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, Billy Elliot)
forwarding the narrative in some interesting ways that are more functional than
just slick like too many such films have been.
There are still issues, but it is ambitious at least. The Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 Stereo mixes
are about the same, coming form a low-budget film mix that is rendered good
here, though you can hear sonic limits.
The music is never overbearing, even when it and sound effects are the
highlight of the surrounds. Extras
include the original theatrical trailer, a making of featurette and a selection
of interesting deleted/extended scenes.
A sequel,
with the obvious title of Adulthood,
was released in 2008. We’ll be
interested to see where that goes.
- Nicholas Sheffo
