The next big Netflix murder thriller that everyone’s going to be talking about is Adolescence – a four-part show coming on March 13th, and the big selling point is that each episode was filmed in, and will be presented as, one unbroken take. Not a faux single take, like 1917, where lots of long takes are stitched together – actually all one take, is the promise.
Director Philip Barantini and actor Stephen Graham have form in this area, having done the same thing for the movie Boiling Point, and while that movie used the technique to wrap you in the intensity of the managed chaos of a restaurant kitchen, Adolescence will use it to take an unflinching look at the world of knife crime and toxic attitudes among teenagers.
It’s to the show’s credit that the trailer doesn’t lean into the one-take premise at all, and simply looks utterly gripping and compelling.
The show follows the aftermath of a 13-year-old boy being accused of the murder of a girl who goes to his school. It’ll explore what really happened, and why, as well as the aftermath among his family and the police detective leading the case.
Writer Jack Thorne told Deadline “The camera doesn’t blink in this show and by being unblinking it allows for a certain rawness and honesty… There are lots of ways of telling these stories and looking at knife crime but what we wanted to do is spend a lot of time thinking about our relationship with rage and talking about things that we struggle with as people. What has resulted is a piece that uses the technical to unlock the emotional.”
There’s the potential for some really interesting filmmaking to be explored, as Thorne further explained to Deadline: “The cinematographers thought a chase scene I had written would look like a computer game and instead I got this call from [Barantini] who said, ‘Imagine if the cameras could fly.’ So we strapped cameras to a drone that took off over traffic lights and then suddenly you’re at the murder scene. Emotionally it kicks you in the stomach.”
It sounds like each episode will explore a different element of the story, which makes sense in terms of not being able to just cut across town to explore what someone else is up to.
I’m really looking forward to this one – its promise of exploring youth violence, rage, modern social pressures, and the influence of the ‘manosphere’ on teenagers, it could be a really impacting and timely thriller, as well as mind-blowing technical marvel. One of the best Netflix shows this year? We’ll find out on March 13th, 2025.
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