A coming-of-age story of the type we rarely get to see on screen, Lemonade follows Danny (Lewis Brophy, a shining new star) from the eve of his 18th birthday as he ventures into so-called adult life – or in his case, life outside of the Irish foster-care system. Danny’s cherubic face conceals unprocessed anger, as we learn more about his past throughout the film. Left behind on account of his mother’s drug addiction and separated from his younger brother, the teenager has to fend for himself in the opening scenes of documentarian Kim Bartley’s narrative fiction debut. Lemonade had its world premiere as part of the Toronto International Film Festival’s Centrepiece section, and it’s a movie that exemplifies the need for tenderness in British social-realism dramas today.

Danny is one of those boys who weren’t afforded a childhood – having to grow up prematurely and take on responsibilities even within the context of foster care has seared into him an unwavering suspicion of the world and everyone around him. The fact that Lemonade started off as an unscripted project is plain to see in the interactions between Danny and his foster-home friends, and a girl he meets by chance. Mila (Carla Tous) is a Spaniard visiting Dublin long enough for a romance to bloom between the two teenagers, giving the film’s harsh realism a soft glow. As Danny jumps headfirst into this blossoming relationship, the return of Josh (Barry Keoghan), his old caseworker, is met with coolness and disappointment.

The relationship between Danny and Josh is one of mirroring: their shared upbringing is differentiated by their age and character. Josh is older and about to start a family of his own, with a calm kind of patience concealing a painful past, while Danny is simmering with a rage directed at the world’s injustices, which he can’t afford to express. BAFTA winner and Oscar nominee Keoghan, who’s been open about his own past in foster care, gives a measured and gentle performance as a reflection of the film’s lead. His Josh may struggle to overcome his troubled past but nevertheless believes in leaving bitterness behind, making the feature a beautiful, compassionate message to those who, like him, were under the burden of an underfunded foster-care system.

What could easily have been a trivial coming-of-age story amidst the tough, adversarial circumstances of being parentless becomes a warm, well-balanced hero’s journey in the hands of writer-director Bartley. Even if Danny’s life out of foster care is anything but easy, throwing up legal and emotional challenges at every step, the feeling of him living on borrowed time until he collapses under the weight of it all never materialises. Instead, Lemonade opts for a soothing end that’s not an easy fix – sometimes, it might feel like you’re drowning, but you’re actually floating towards the shore.

Lemonade is an Irish-British production staged by Underground Films and Rocliffe Productions.