In the successful Netflix series Adolescence, everything revolves around the question of whether 13-year-old Jamie (Owen Cooper) murdered his classmate Katie. In the first episode, the behavior of the boy’s parents becomes as important as the question of guilt. Especially father Eddie, about whom it is not yet clear how his behavior the child has influenced and shaped, keeps moving to the center of adolescence.
In the last episode at the latest, actors Stephen Graham then delivers one acting masterpiece AB that digs deep under the skin. In addition to the uninterrupted one take turn, this impresses all the more when you think of where the roots of the British star lie and how it has developed again in recent years.
Attention, follow below spoilers for the story of adolescence!
Stephen Graham made a name for himself through the depiction of scary gangsters
The actor started his career in the 90s and had a first remarkable role in Guy Ritchies Snatch – pigs and diamonds. Here Graham left Tommy as a grim sidekick. He was then remembered even more intensely and powerfully through performances in films such as Martin Scorseses Gangs of New York and the rough skinhead drama This is England.
From here on the state of the English for Morally complicated, rather dark or abysmal character roles. Graham’s participation in Gangs of New York, where he played the gang leader Shang, led the star deeper into scorseses typical criminal cosmos, where he could easily join the ranks of big names such as Robert de Niro and Joe Pesci.
For example, anyone who has seen the outstanding HBO series Boardwalk Empire, which was co-produced by Scorsese, will immediately think of Graham’s representation of Al Capone. How he plays the legendary gangster as a bubbling powder barrel that repeatedly explodes in pure violence is an event in itself. At one moment he is still the mischievous grinning small ganove to become a cold -blooded killer who will kick someone dead or holes through the next moment.
It almost seemed as if it were Graham hardly get rid of the image of the scary gangster. It also didn’t help that he has played calmer, more dramatic character roles in series like Time in recent years. With the collaboration between Graham and director Philip Barantini, however, he recently managed to disclose new facets of his huge acting talent.
With adolescence, Stephen Graham shows extremely emotional vulnerability
In 2021, the director and the main actor published the sweaty thriller drama Yes, boss!, Also known as Boiling Point. The feature film, which is based on Barantinis, was filmed in a setting without cuts, like later adolescence. Graham plays the chef Andy, who has to keep the operation of a London noble restaurant under control.
It quickly becomes clear that this Andy, especially his own life, has hardly under control. Between drug and alcohol addiction as well as the broken relationship with ex-wife and son, the protagonist has to avert the threat of his business.
Graham plays Andy in the midst of all the hustle and bustle and the exhaustive stress with a tension under which aggressive anger once brodged. Barantinis Film still shows the star in a more prudent constitution, which is repeatedly with Andys Hitzy temperament and penchant for (self-) destruction to collide.
Even if Boiling Point captivates with the one take, it is again Stephen Graham who dominates the chaotic flow of the film. His acting performance in the work is a sign of adolescence, Netflix ‘mini series, with which Graham is almost new.
The series, which the actor co-developed and for which he was involved in the script, dissolves at the end of episode 1 that the 13-year-old Jamie killed his classmate. Graham is present in the scene as the boy’s father, in which the video of the surveillance camera is played. He reacts horrified and still holds his son.
Only in the final episode of Adolescene, when over a year since Jamie’s arrest has passed, we return to Eddie, his wife and daughter. As a viewer, we are still not clear to what extent the father was involved in Jamie’s development.
In the role of Eddie, Graham appears like a gentle giant from the beginning of the series, visibly inflated for his other current role as a professional boxer in the new series a Thousand Blows by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight. Layer by layer, the star in the adolescence final puts the guilt feelings of his character open, shows the struggle with a lack of care and arises as to whether Eddie could somehow prevent Jamie’s act.
At the end It is not the usual outbreak of Stephen Graham and his performance. Instead, it is the steamed howling cramp when Eddie collapses in his son’s bed and cries in his ceiling. The Englishman finally breaks through the hard facade of its typical figures and plays with a new, incredibly moving emotionality in the league of the best acting stars of our time.