I May Destroy You: Eyes Eyes Eyes Eyes

 "You know I can't socialise after I ejaculate, so..."

This is, especially at the end, not always a comfortable thing to watch. But Michaela Coel has written an extraordinary chronicle of our #MeToo times centred on a sexual assault which is experienced, as are many sexual assault, through an alconolic and druggy (spiked drink?) haze. The whole thing is written, acted and directed with real brilliant, and the sexual assault happens only towards the end, and through the hazy memories of Arabella herself.

Quite rightly, we get to know and like Arabella first. A successful writer, she happens to live in London where no one who isn't a millionaite can afford decent living conditions. The episode is by no means all about the sexual assault. It's about the agonising pressure, procrastination and adrenaline of being a writer. It's about the uncertainty of whether her Italian boyfriend is going to commit. It's about Black writers negotiating the very white world of publishing. 

Most of all, though, it's devastating and sublime. The final scenes, with Arabella waking up after the night before, not really aware of her own traumatic shock, are wonderfully directed and acted to pack a real punch, and to represent the trths of so many women. This is a very impressive first episode.

Kidulthood (2006)

"You can put it in my arse as well. It hurts, but I don't mind."

This is an extraordinary debut from Noel Clarke as a writer and, which is sort of the point, a bloody good film. Doesn't half make me feel old, though, and I'm only 38.

Are teenagers really like this in London, with the bullying, the drugs, the incomprehensible slang, the relentlessly hard gang mentality, and the horrifying level of bullying? I'm 38, and I feel old. I don't live in London, fortunately, but I'm still terrified about the bullying my daughter could experience when she starts school.

It's a brilliantly directed film, with some wonderful touches, and a superb script is brought to life by a largely unknown cast, although Cornell John and Alison Newman are both familiar faces from Eastenders. It deals with bullying, gang culture, teen suicide, teen pregnancy, and, in a subtle way, racism, although this seems to be one issue which is actually shown to be less of a problem than one might expect. Most depressing, perhaps, is the universally subservient attitude the girls have towards the boys: it's as if feminism never happened.

All this builds towards a tragic and dramatic ending which leaves us wanting more. This isn't necessarily the sort of film is usually watch, and I only watched it because it was written by Noel Clarke of off of that Doctor Who, but I enjoyed it immensely.