#NME 2809938 2020
The girl Matthew is totally enamoured called Jen, played by Anya Taylor-Joy.The other boys mock him but the pair soon hook up and become a couple.
Things predictably unravel as Matthew's drug-derived jealousy and paranoia appear to scupper his relationship with Jen, while Kearney's grotesque true nature is unveiled through a series of unsavoury revelations. There's intense imagery from Macken, who co-wrote the script with the author of the source novel Rob Doyle, as the youngsters get increasingly out of control, while the soundtrack impresses with tracks like 'Where Do I Begin?' by The Chemical Brothers.
In the lead role is Chapman, solid as you but slightly less memorable than Cole. He does his best to make viewers' skin crawl as the repulsive Kearney while Taylor-Joy puts in an impressive performance, proving yet again that she has charisma to burn. Unfortunately, the story, lively though it is, feels somewhat slight. The kids take drugs, get drunk, commit some heinous acts, which is momentarily engaging but hardly revolutionary. That aside, the gameshow dream sequences, while entertaining and suitably demented, jar with the rest of the film and don't quite mesh in the way that, say, Trainspotting's similar scenes do. All this means that Here Are The Young Men is worth a watch but should be approached with caution.
Review of Here Are the Young Men
