A year ago, Netflix dropped the series Baby Reindeer, a disturbing yet captivating story of obsession that everybody was talking about. It seemed to really hit a nerve, as its twisted mix of loneliness, narcissism, abuse, self-degradation, compassion and stalking seemed to resonate with a lot of people—and it was really well-made, proven by its haul of awards. It was the one show that you had to watch, in order to be in on the conversation.
Well, Netflix has struck again a year later, with another new series that has everyone talking, is just as relevant in today’s world, but this one is even more disturbing, is even better—and 
has a unique twist that makes it truly unforgettable.
The series is called Adolescence and even though there is a special filmmaking technique that makes it stand out, what truly makes it unforgettable is the story, in all its terrifying, harrowing and heartbreaking reality. While it may not be a specific true story, it does reflect the society we all live in, and that is horrifying enough.
It’s tough to be a teenager, there’s nothing new about that. Every generation has its own challenges to deal with, but the advent of social media has made life for modern teenagers exponentially more complicated to navigate. Adolescence tackles head on the influence of social media in and on the lives of teenagers in a modern English town, specifically commenting on the issue of incel culture and gender violence with young boys and the rising trend of violence towards girls.
Adolescence is the story of Jamie, played by Owen Cooper, who is accused of stabbing a girl classmate to death. Jamie’s parents, played by Stephen Graham and Christine Tremarco, cannot comprehend how this could have happened, yet the police detectives, played by Ashley Walters and Faye Marsay, have some quite compelling evidence against Jamie.
The series is just four episodes, each one capturing a different stage of the case. Each episode is a deep-dive into the state of mind of the characters and reveals an intricate portrait not only of this one 13-year-old boy, but of a society and a culture that can foster an environment where children can kill other children—and tries to figure out why.
But what makes Adolescence such a visceral experience, even more than it already is given the caliber of writing and acting that it offers, is the fact that every episode is done in one single, uncut shot. It is a stunningly effective cinematic gimmick that turns out to be the emotional equivalent of making the audience another character in the piece, literally putting us into the story, as we are there for every breath, every beat, never turning away, never even looking away. It is a stunning technical achievement, if you read up on how much rehearsing and preparation it took, you’ll be even more impressed, but that is not the point. The point that director Philip Barantini, who used the same method for his one-shot 2021 film Boiling Point, is making is to put the audience right into the intensity of the emotions, so they can feel the intimacy of the pain, the confusion, the heartache and the sorrow.
If you think the all-done-in-one-take will just make it feel like a play, well that would be true if the action stayed in one place. The third episode does feel like a play, as it is two characters just talking in a room (don’t be misled, it is the most compelling of the four episodes), but the other three episodes move around, not just around interior sets, but inside and outside, in intricately choreographed movements that require hundreds of actors in a carefully calibrated ballet in a truly staggering technical achievement that has to look completely natural.
But Adolescence is so good, and the writing and acting so strong, you forget everything technical pretty quickly because you find yourself so absorbed in the story that by the time you get to the end, you don’t even realize you’ve been watching something—you’ve been living it.