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As the kids in question emerge from the trust-funded Gabriels and Violas of West London, some might take this handsome YA romance as further evidence of creative-industry elitism. Chris Foggin’s first feature nevertheless retains two highly favourable elements. Will Poulter is typically no-nonsense as the Portobello Road set’s own Ben Braddock, drifting from his straight-edge lifepath under the influence of worldly Parisian Evelyn (Alma Jodorowsky).

Foggin’s fondly satirical eye, meanwhile, permits these characters their moment among the Notting Hill carnival crowds, while spotting how frivolous, lost and isolated they are elsewhere. (Money here affords mobility, not happiness.)

Despite the credible evocation of this milieu – including a sparky Cara Delevingne as the most prominent sofa-surfer – it needed a touch more narrative oomph to hasten it past its final-reel moping. Yet it remains a sincere, sweet-minded venture: one of those debuts in which characters and film-makers appear to be finding themselves before your very eyes.

Chris Foggin’s Kids in Love captures that sense of desire you carry in your formative years, when you feel enamoured and beguiled with people, music and life. Though this title is flawed, it works as an absorbing nostalgia trip, taking you back to how you felt when falling in love for the first time. Imagine caring that much about anything now? The film works, for it’s been co-penned by Sebastian De Souza and Preston Thompson – two of the lead roles – and their youthful energy ensures that the film is not tarnished or distorted by hindsight. It’s not looking back at that time in our lives with an affectionate eye – it’s written by two people right in the middle of it.

Will Poulter plays Jack, who has completed his A-Levels and is preparing himself for Uni, enjoying one final summer before studies are resumed. His father wants him to work, his best friend Tom (Jamie Blackley) wants to go travelling, but Jack is hellbent on staying put – for he’s met Evelyn (Alma Jodorowsky) and had his entire life turned upside down. She’s in a relationship with Milo (De Souza) but that doesn’t stop Jack dreaming, and he becomes a focal point in the heart of their friendship group, with the charismatic Cassius (Thompson) the heartbeat. Encouraged to take up his hobby of photography, this new sense of freedom and independence lures Jack in, and suddenly whether he even goes to Uni is up in the balance – much to the annoyance of his family and best friend.

Let it be known that the group Jack becomes entwined with are annoying; contrived in their quirkiness. But we completely adopt the protagonist’s perspective, and while aware of their flaws, the spontaneity they preach is infectious, and we warm to them just as Jack does. It helps matters tremendously that Poulter is such an endearing, sincere performer, and he remains relatable the whole way through, allowing for us to adhere to his decisions, and comprehend his actions. He represents normality, and we need that entry point. It’s also vital we like Poulter, for he’s trying his luck with a beautiful French model – had he been any less charming it might’ve been difficult to abide by, which could have been detrimental to our investment, as that particular plot-point is the core to this narrative.

On a more negative note, Kids in Love doesn’t feel particularly authentic in its depiction of West London life, though given it’s taking place in the mind of Jack – almost presented as a fantasy of sorts – it’s given some leeway in its commitment to realism. It’s just interesting to see this released so close to Noel Clarke’s Brotherhood, both taking place in the exact same area, and yet depicting such different cultures. Kids in Love may not be quite as naturalistic as that particular film, but certainly triumphs in being both gloriously entertaining, and really rather sweet, too.

Sebastian de Souza’s writing debut, Kids in Love, has taken a while to reach the screen. The ex-Skins actor co-wrote the script as a teenager with his childhood pal Preston Thompson, shot it back in 2013 and next Friday it will finally be released. Yet despite the delay Kids In Love is perfectly timed.

London needs a colour-saturated, sun-drenched fairytale now more than ever. The fact that the film also revolves around a cross-channel romance, makes Lancaster Gate look like Lake Como and features the capital’s own international It Girl export, Cara Delevingne, as good as screams “London is open”. Sadiq Khan would approve.

“I haven’t thought about how it now must look now,” says De Souza when we meet a Soho hotel. It’s a few weeks since he saw the final cut at a screening in pre-Brexit Edinburgh and he’s still mulling it over. “There’s something deeply, deeply exciting about London. There’s an energy to it, everyone’s on the street, everyone exists so cheek-by-jowl and I hope some of that comes across in the film. Hopefully that won’t change.”

De Souza, now 23, projects his own cosmopolitan cool, with the looks of a Mediterranean matinee idol (he has Indian, French and Irish heritage) and a relaxed RP accent of a Made in Chelsea regular. But he’s particularly full of LDN love having spent a lot of time in LA recently working on new projects: “In comparison with London, it’s not a city; it’s like a motorway.”

London loyalties aside, this part-time move represents an exciting juncture in a career which began with the role of Matty Levan in Channel 4’s Skins. That ground-breaking teen show was smart enough to beguile grown-ups (specifically casting directors) and was a launch pad for several other British talents, including Jack O’Connell and Dev Patel.

From there, De Souza was cast as heart-throb Alfonso of Aragon in The Borgias, Sky Atlantic’s steamy historical drama, with film work following suit. “I seem to end up playing mysterious bad boys. I don’t know how it’s happened because I’m really so un-mysterious and I’m really not cool at all.”

It was on the set of 2014’s energetic crime caper Plastic that he met Kids in Love’s star Will Poulter. De Souza has a supporting role as smooth love rival Milo but it’s Poulter, as Jack, the slightly befuddled west London school leaver who seeks his fortune in Hackney Wick’s warehouse scene, who is the story’s emotional centre. “Will is a genius and I’m his groupie. That’s how it works, basically,” says De Souza. “He just brings such truth to everything he does and I think he did in this… He’s a real actor. I mean, I can’t really act. I sort of potter about and do this job and that job and people are very sweet to even think of me.”

That sort of self-deprecation is characteristic of De Souza’s charm but it obscures the real nature of his accomplishment. While Poulter’s central performance is undoubtedly an asset to Kids in Love, De Souza and Thompson’s script has provided the up-and-coming actor with a perfect showcase for his boyish, everyman star power.

It’s also a gift to Delevingne, who, as Viola, was able to parlay her party girl reputation into some substantial screen acting experience (Kids in Love was shot before both Paper Towns and Suicide Squad).

De Souza doesn’t follow the tabloid stories about his co-star. “What I find most interesting about Cara is that she’s actually an innovator. She did something new, which was to not just be a model, to kind of use that platform to do loads and loads of different things.”

But he will admit that, along with the rest of the young cast, the pair did “a fair amount of going out” between early morning calls. Is he part of the squad now? “Actually, good point. Not really. I should call her up and ask her why I haven’t met Rihanna.”

De Souza talks up his co-stars like a seasoned luvvie but then, despite his youth, he’s already a showbiz veteran of seven years standing. Skins made him financially independent while he was still at school, which led, he says, to a “fraught” relationship with his composer father and educational psychologist mother. “I didn’t go off the rails any more than any other 16-year-old but I wouldn’t wish it on my own children… I was made to feel like an adult a little bit too early, y’know?”

These days he treasures time spent with his family and is determined to stay connected with ordinary life. “I try and spend as much time with people who aren’t actors as possible. I really, really want to marry a teacher or a doctor, or a lawyer. Well, not a lawyer, ’cos lawyers are… I just think it gives you great perspective.”

Even by the standards of the model-slash-actor-slash-wellness-guru crowd he sometimes runs with De Souza is a prolific multi-tasker. Acting is “really how I pay the rent”, but there’s also the screenwriting, providing vocals for house-music records, a production company in partnership with Poulter, a brand management company, and now a novel in the works. Or rather, four. “I hope it will be one story in four parts,” he explains.

What motivates this impressive creative whirlwind? “I don’t really feel like I do that much, babe,” he sighs. “It’s the only way I can think of existing when I wake up in the morning.”

There’s that self-deprecation again. Although in De Souza’s case it’s elevated above the standard actorly shtick by a very genuine sense of gratitude. He says the word “lucky” 10 times during our conversation and it seems it’s this appreciation for all the opportunities that life has so far presented which really motivates his industry. “It’s not a masterplan, but I just figure if people are mad enough to let you do it, you might at least have a go at doing it all, y’know?”

Kids in Love takes you back to a time when it’s possible to become completely beguiled and enamoured by new people. Now, we sneer at fellow passengers on the tube and die a little bit inside if anybody attempts to strike up a conversation – but there was a period in our lives when new equated to exciting, and it’s this notion Chris Foggin’s feature debut thrives on. Encapsulated most prominently in how our protagonist Jack (Will Poulter) falls head over heels in love, during a time where everything seems to mean more than it ever has, or ever will.

Jack has just finished his A-Levels and is readying himself for a move to Bristol University in the Autumn, wanting to live out one final summer of freedom before the rest of his life begins. His father wants him to do an internship at a law firm, his best friend Tom (Jamie Blackley) wants to travel around South America, but he’s yet undecided, still hoping to be inspired by something, or someone. Then he meets Evelyn (Alma Jodorowsky), a French teenager who, while going out with Milo (Sebastian De Souza), has evidently taken a liking to Jack.

He immerses himself within this new group of friends, headed up by the eccentric womaniser Cassius (Preston Thompson) and the alluring duo of Elena (Gala Gordon) and Viola (Cara Delevingne). Much to the displeasure of his parents, and Tom, Jack becomes embroiled in this new world, reconnecting with his love of photography, and attempting to keep up with the fast-paced spontaneity of it all. He’s also wishing, desperately, that Evelyn breaks up with Milo and turns her attentions to him.

Though you’re unsure about this particular, bohemian group of freewheeling, wannabe troubadours, thankfully it works as we’re adopting the perspective of a relatable character in Jack and his somewhat naïve, almost blissful outlook on life. He represents normality amidst this sea of pretension, and we feel as he does, a spectator of sorts, as though constantly at a party you haven’t been invited to. But as he warms to the group and becomes more accepted, in turn, so do we and the film takes on a charm of sorts, and suddenly the deliberately overstated character creations seem endearing, and a part of this fantasy we’re living out through our entry point.

This notion of this being a fantasy of sorts lets the film off the hook in many cases, as Kids in Love represents a London that doesn’t feel very authentic, nor accessible. As somebody who has grown up just around the corner from Ladbroke Grove – where this narrative unravels, it doesn’t feel like a London that seems particularly familiar. I’m still waiting to go to a party and be whisked away to the dance-floor by Cara Delevinge. I definitely had the wrong friends.

Poulter shines in the leading role, remaining empathetic and absorbing throughout. His distinct affability is essential too, in ensuring we invest in the paramount romance with an insanely hot girl, making it seem all the more believable. The fact he remains so relatable makes it seem almost plausible, as though it could have happened to any of us. He becomes slightly less endearing as we progress and we start questioning his decisions and he becomes painfully self-absorbed, but it’s vital he remains flawed, plus, he’s earned our investment from the earlier stages, which comes in rather handy later on.

Friends in Love is written by two of the lead stars in Thompson and De Souza, and as such comes free of hindsight nor nostalgia; this is not a piece written by an adult looking back with an affectionate, wiser eye on their youth, but by youngsters living out this lifestyle now. Though that can be to the film’s detriment in parts, it also adds significantly to the film’s undeniable charm.