According to Kidulthood, teen pregnancy, drug abuse and hoodie violence is what real life in inner-city London is all about. Whether true or not, director Menhaj Huda turns this bleak slice-of-life drama into "a visual feast" and offers a picture of troubled youth that doesn't patronise. Not surprisingly though, it didn't attract many moviegoers most of whom flocked to see Date Movie instead...

Growing Pains

Budding filmmakers should have their notepads at the ready for a 15-minute interview with Huda. He talks about the trials of shooting a film in 27 days on a TV budget of £600,000 and trying to make it cinematic with only "inventive" camerawork. Despite the hard grind, the young director insists that a low budget is a help rather than a hindrance because, "You apply yourself more and spend less time on the peripheral things", ie hair and makeup. Of course the soundtrack was a crucial ingredient and music supervisor Ian Neil gives just as detailed account of the challenges he faced. He gets into the nitty-gritty of securing the rights to songs and how "labour intensive" this proved to be. The closeness of his collaboration with Huda also comes across, picking music together even as the script was still being developed.

The actor interviews are a little less edifying, but Jaime Winston (daughter of Ray) neatly sums up the intention of the film, saying, "If one parent turns around to their kid and strikes up a conversation about bullying, sex or drugs, then we've won." Winston and Huda have less to say for themselves in a short behind-the-scenes featurette, but that's clearly because they're under pressure during the location shoot. With this fly-on-the-wall approach, we can see how fast and fluid the creative process really is for filmmakers working on a shoestring. The director admits, "It's the hardest thing I've ever done."

That's A Rap!

Eight deleted scenes fill in a few gaps for the 15-year-old Trife (played by Aml Ameen), but at least one of them doesn't ring true. After returning a purse to its drunken owner (Kate MacGowan), Trife fights off her clumsy advances and lamely protests, "I'm not 20, I'm still in school!" More convincing is a pensive moment when Trife confesses to Jay (Adam Deacon) that he had sex with Katie (Rebecca Martin), hinting at a sense of guilt about her suicide early on in the film.

British hip-hop artists including Roots Manuva (who features on the soundtrack) pop up in footage taken from the premiere. "It is a snapshot of British living," insists Roots, "It is the tough and gritty reality of life in the belly of the beast!" In snippets from the after-show party, Skinnyman puts the metaphors to music along with and the likes of DJ Skitz, MCD and Million Dan. Elsewhere a bonus track by Arkane accompanies a picture gallery and Skinnyman's music video for Council Estate Of Mind completes the package.

Admittedly it's not what you'd consider traditional family viewing, but this DVD boldly addresses issues that affect both teenagers and parents. For aspiring directors, it provides a useful guide to guerrilla filmmaking.

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