Listen to the narrator's warning at the opening of the film, because a rough and dangerous ride follows as the film unfolds.
The only reason that I'm able to write a coherent review of the film is because some, but not all, of the subject matter is entirely foreign to me and to most of the people who have been around me for most of my long, adult life.
The narration is in a foreign language (hip-hop) that I never learned at school, but I'm a quick learner. If you aren't - it'll be hard to work out what's going on in the confused and disjointed lives that confront you - but persevere.. because it will make sense - eventually. Learn the language of the narrator, because he's explaining what's happening as we shift back and forth in time.
Writer and Director Ben Drew / Plan B presents a shockingly realistic portrayal and insight into the hapless lives of the damaged individuals that we get to know in the course of the story.
If society, as a whole, has not got the message that comes out loud and clear from the film, it's 'Keep drugs, fireworks, sharp instruments and unloving care-takers away from young children - if you want a happy ending in the longer term'.
This film charts the everyday outcomes which follow early exposure to forbidden fruit and the inability of people to recover from exposure, later on in life - whether due to premature death or permanent, irreversible psycholgical damage. All the way through it's a long catalogue of unhappy endings without any hope of remission.
An old story, well-told; dressed up in the newest generation's clothes, sex, drugs and rock and roll.
