"Adolescence" Four episodes one breath

   Published Jan. 5, 2026

Hannah Sesay

Cub Reporter

 “Adolescence” is an incredible limited four part series directed by Phillip Barantini released March 13, 2025. The film follows a family's journey as their 13 year old son is accused of murder of a teenage girl, and his family's journey of trying to understand him. This show is a slow, dramatic film that also covers bullying and teenagers' difficulties growing up trying to find their path in this modern and cruel world of social media. Regardless of the fact that it was released earlier this year, the film continues to have significant buzz and attract a large audience, showing the popularity of the film. 

The central theme of “Adolescence” isn’t really about bullying or who did what, but rather a film that covers social media and the influences of misogyny on teenage boys. Toxic masculinity is shown throughout the film as Owen Cooper, who plays the main character Jamie Miller, displays that incredibly. 

Owen Cooper has recently won an Emmy Award because of his role, gaining the title of being the “youngest male to win in 2025” and he 100% deserved it. The fact that it was his first time acting is insane due to the emotions he shows through Jamie. It’s clear throughout the details that so much thought has been put into this. The acting is phenomenal and it shows raw performances from these actors. Stephen Graham, who plays Jamie's father Eddie Miller, gives an incredible performance and shows the true emotions of his character.

The best part of the film was that each episode was taken in one continuous shot. A single, uninterrupted camera take that captures an entire scene or the entirety of the film, in this case it would be each episode. That is really impressive, that decision made it feel so real and natural. Each episode is 50-60 minutes long and the fact that the cast can memorize over 50 minutes of a scene is just really impressive to me, especially when we're talking about 14 year old Owen Cooper. The rehearsing time took over three weeks, but the filming itself took five days, the last episode being filmed first and the first episode being filmed second. 

 There was only one computer generated imagery throughout the entire film. The crew actually removed an actual window frame and digitally replaced it. As one of the actors jumped out of the window the camera was then moved out the faux window and handed to another crew member. The detailed choreography combined with VFX made it really seem like the camera was passing though the glass without a cut. Watching it through the first time I was more focused on the actual scene than the fact that the window was edited. 

Overall, I really enjoyed “Adolescence” and the cinematography in the film. The preparation time required for each episode meant that they really took their time with this and the outcome was worth it. It's clear that this film requires attention and patience and may not be for everyone but I’m glad that I watched it.