There's a decent chance that the four-episode Netflix miniseries Adolescence is the single most acclaimed piece of popular art to come out in 2025. (Its competition would be what? Anything other than Sinners?) Adolescence opens with a scene of police arresting a boy for murder. In four long, continuous takes, it shows the effects of the violence on the boy, his family, and the institutions around him. Earlier today, we learned that Adolescence co-writer and co-creator Jack Thorne will be one of the screenwriters behind the Sam Mendes' four upcoming Beatles biopics. Now, the director of all four Adolescence episodes has once again teamed up with the show's young star, this time to make a video for the British rocker Sam Fender.
Earlier this year, Sam Fender released People Watching, the new album that he partially recorded with the War On Drugs leader Adam Granduciel. The LP debuted at #1 in the UK, and now Granduciel has shared the video for "Little Bit Clearer," one of the songs that he didn't make with Granduciel. Philip Barantini, the UK filmmaker who directed all four Adolescence episodes, made the "Little Bit Clearer" video. Barantini previously directed Fender's 2021 "Spit Of You" video, which stars Stephen Graham, the star, co-writer, and co-creator of Adolescence. Fender doesn't appear in the new "Little Bit Clearer" clip. Instead, Owen Cooper, the teenage actor who was so disturbingly effective in Adolescence, stars as a kid who goes romping through the English countryside with his friends.
There's no grand cinematic vision this time, and Philip Barantini doesn't tell his story in unbroken long takes. Instead, it's just a good music video that implies a larger context. Cooper does a great job telling a story through emotional reaction, without the benefit of dialog, and he really holds the center of the screen. Next up, he'll play young Heathcliff in Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights movie, which means he's the younger version of Jacob Elordi. Watch the "Little Bit Clearer" video below.
People Watching is out now on Polydor.
