Series created by Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham.
Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham’s Adolescence tells the story of a 13-year-old boy, Jamie (played by Owen Cooper), who is shockingly arrested in his family home on suspicion of the murder of a female classmate. When Jamie is questioned at the police station, he repeatedly insists that he is innocent, while his father, Eddie (played by Stephen Graham), is at his side. Later, a child psychiatrist seeks to evaluate the young boy, and the police start to ask questions at Jamie’s school.
I feel like this one really came out of nowhere. Despite sharing a release weekend on Netflix with the streamer’s own The Electric State, which is one of the most expensive movies ever made, it is this British crime drama limited series that has gone viral and significantly impacted (and made an impression on) its viewers. This is the original release that has stuck with people, as the word-of-mouth would seem to suggest.
The concept of the series can sound, sort of, gimmicky, as each of the series’ four episodes is presented with one long, unbroken tracking shot (so, essentially, it’s presented, in totality, as four long takes). But the gliding camera movements are handled extremely well. It, of course, has the impact that you feel like you’re trapped in real-time with these characters, which can be incredibly affecting, and the perspective switches that we see here are handled really elegantly (and super impressively in the second episode, where the camera appears to suddenly go into drone mode). With many long ‘oners’ or tracking shots, they’re really a series of shots stitched together to give the feeling of being one long shot, but here they actually went all out and found ways to actually do it through extensive rehearsing and multiple choreographed handings off of the camera. It is, from this technical perspective, a sensational achievement. This is despite a couple of hiccups when the real-time of it all can make scenes feel overly long, or, in episode two, when a police chase scene feels a little bit too slow.
Another reason why it works is that the central performances are, at times, out-of-this-world good. Christine Tremarco’s work here feels so incredibly authentic and raw. Ashley Walters also makes a good impression in the two first episodes. Then we have the series’ two stars, one of which is a previously complete unknown. Let’s start there. Owen Cooper is a revelation. It is an astoundingly good performance that is particularly given the spotlight in episode three, where his emotional switches are performed remarkably well. He’s young, but this is nonetheless a star-making type of performance. Stephen Graham is the series’ other star, and, frankly, I couldn’t take my eyes off him, as he navigated his character’s emotional whirlwind and gut-punch with the kind of performance that is completely overwhelming emotionally. He is terrific, and he has one or two emotional outbursts here that will break your heart.
I think many will feel conflicted about the decision to focus this little on the victim and her family, and I think that is understandable. Ultimately, the creators set out to craft a gripping experience built around modern themes like online bullying, toxic masculinity, and the way influencers online spout toxic messages that have a disturbing impact on many young men. Episode one focuses on the startling arrest and emotional extremes therein, episode two focuses on the police work and the young man’s school environment, episode three focuses on a revealing therapy session, while the series finale takes a close-up look at Owen’s confused and traumatized family, whose lives have been upended. Each and every one of these episodes features tense, arresting, emotional sequences.
It’s important to emphasize that this is not a ‘whodunit,’ per se. Rather, it is an eye-opening, shattering series about a tragedy, the impact it leaves on systems that contribute to a young person’s development (family, school, etc.), the world that young people grow up in, the world they interact with online, the messages that seek to influence them online, and our worry over if we can guide them away from the darkest corners of our society. This also means that while it is a difficult watch, it is also essential that you do watch it, so as to better understand. It gets under your skin and sits with you in ways that only the best and most impactful series do. It will undoubtedly be remembered as one of the best series of the year.
– Review written by Jeffrey Rex Bertelsen.
I'm Jeffrey Rex 