Young Soul Rebels

Young Soul Rebels has a touch of the cartoonishness that often creeps into British cinema. But this film still has a life-giving pulse of energy.

For all his prestigious accolades, [Isaac Julien's] sole narrative feature proves that he also knew--and presumably still knows--how to have a good time, even when telling a heartfelt story rooted in identity politics and intersectionality.

The film picks apart class and racial dynamics of the time, but the most interesting bit is the level of acceptance and fluidity of the main characters.

I'm afraid that this is a bit all over the place. In attempting to deal with multiple issues simultaneously it ends up doing justice to none of them well. A man is killed why cruising for gay sex in a local park and the subsequent investigation tries to deal with racism, sexism and homophobia amongst both the local community and the police. At times it is a love story - platonic and sexual between friends and lovers but the lines are blurred and the conflict seems largely manufactured. The performances are clunky and the script likewise. Sorry, but too much of a hutch-potch for me to make much sense of.