I Am Not Okay With This, Netflix
I’ll forgive anything that has cult 1960s folk singer Karen Dalton on its soundtrack, though by the time Dalton’s Something On Your Mind arrives – mid-way through episode two – there’s little about this quirky coming-of-age drama that needs forgiving.
Unsurprisingly (this is Netflix, after all) I Am Not Okay With This is based on a graphic novel of the same name by Charles Forsman, who also authored The End Of The F***ing World, a hit for Channel 4 when it was filmed in 2017. It’s directed by Jonathan Entwhistle, who also helmed The End Of The F***ing World, and comes from the producers of Stranger Things. Oh, and its leads are Sophia Lillis and Wyatt Oleff, stars of the recent Stephen King remakes It and It: Chapter Two (and probably the best things in them, though that wouldn’t be hard).
Lillis plays 17-year-old Sydney. She’s new in town, a tomboy whose stoner father killed himself a year earlier and whose wine-slurping mother works shifts at the local diner to make ends meet. Syd’s getting spots on her thighs but, more problematic, she’s also developing destructive and disruptive super-powers she can’t control but which manifest themselves when she’s angry or upset. Like when her mother doesn’t give her enough money for the groceries and she makes all the goods fly off the shelves.
Syd’s best friend Dina (Sofia Bryant) has taken up with the local jock. That means Syd’s left to hang out with younger brother Liam (Aidan Wojtak-Hissong), a likeable child genius she calls Goob, and oddball neighbour Stanley (Oleff). His truck driver father is away most of the time and his mother is long gone so Stanley sits around in his (admittedly very cool-looking) basement smoking weed and listening to his favourite band, Bloodwitch. On vinyl, of course. He also has interesting views on VHS as a platform (something about the texture) and why the school’s Friday night gridiron games are like Shakespearean theatre. Soon enough he and Syd are an item. Sort of.
I’m Not Okay With This isn’t jaw-droppingly original. It sits safely in the mid-point between MisFits, Alan Garner’s The Owl Service and the films of Todd Solondz and John Hughes (and you could probably also add Ghost World and Stranger Things itself to that list). But it’s refreshing, funny, potty-mouthed, quietly subversive and reassuringly offbeat, thanks in large part to the performances of its amiable leads and a less-is-more script by playwright Christy Hall.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here