📺 Adolescence is terrifying because it’s a real story that happens over and over again. Many TV shows try to depict the horrors of deep-seated contempt for women, but few have ever done so from the point of view of the perpetrator. Adolescence is a Netflix four-episode crime drama that examines a chilling murder of a suburban teenage girl, and the investigation and arrest of her classmate Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper).

The film doesn’t put the blame on manhood, but on the way it has been corrupted and polluted by polarizing content on the internet. The rise of the manosphere — a category of platforms designed to promote a militant form of masculinity and encourage misogyny — has become increasingly accessible to impressionable young men. Despite being raised by loving parents and having a friendly relationship with his sister, Jamie was still radicalized by the content he was exposed to, with the series slowly revealing the insidiousness of that ideology.

Not only is Adolescence a narrative masterpiece, but it’s a masterclass in cinematography. Besides the no-frills depiction of a very real problem, each hour-long episode is shot entirely in one take. The camerawork, staging, and acting are impeccable throughout, with intensely powerful performances by Cooper, Stephen Graham, who plays Jamie’s father Eddie, and Ashley Walters, the lead detective in Jamie’s investigation.

“He was in his room, wasn’t he?” Jamie’s father asks. “We thought he was safe.” Adolescence is a tough but necessary watch, a cautionary tale for parents raising young men in the age of an unmoderated internet. It analyzes the copious murders of young women across continents, begging the question: “Who is teaching our boys to kill?”

WHERE TO WATCH- You can find Adolescence on Netflix, or watch the trailer on YouTube (runtime: 2:27).

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