Burg | Teen

Fans of Fish Tank , Eighth Grade , or anyone who’s ever clocked out of a minimum-wage job at 1 a.m. wondering, “Is this it?”

Where Teen Burg falters is in its third-act tonal whiplash. What begins as a sharp social-realist drama abruptly shifts into a sloppy, ultraviolent thriller. The robbery sequence is deliberately chaotic, but the jump from petty crime to shocking brutality feels unearned, more shocking for shock’s sake than narrative necessity. Supporting characters—especially the store manager (a wasted Stephen Root clone)—vanish when the plot needs them most. teen burg

Streaming on Hulu starting May 12.

Still, there’s genuine promise here. Mills captures the numbing economics of teen poverty without preaching, and the grainy 16mm cinematography gives the Burg an almost documentary grit. Teen Burg isn’t a home run, but it’s a striking first swing—a messy, angry, heartfelt portrait of kids who learned too early that nobody’s coming to save them. Fans of Fish Tank , Eighth Grade ,

You need clean resolutions or can’t stomach abrupt violence in your coming-of-age stories. The robbery sequence is deliberately chaotic, but the