Oscar Picks

coming of age movies

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Of the recent ones, Lady Bird was special. I am not huge fan of these type of movies, probably coz I have already "came of age"! But if done right, they are very good! Or just... Whateva!
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My Favorite Films



Just from the last few years:



2017: LadyBird






2018: The Miseducation of Cameron Post





2019: Blinded By the Light.





Are you just listing them, not discussing what you like about them?

There is THIS recent thread where MoFos gave recommendations.


I am a sucker for the genre, always have been, probably always will be. The gold standard for me remains Peter Yates' Breaking Away (1979), but Wes Anderson's Rushmore (1997) is right up there, too. Kelly Fremon Craig's Edge of Seventeen (2016) is my favorite from the past few years.



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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra



Yesss Juno! Lovely little flick!



It's a pretty incredible genre. I think the best I've seen is Show Me Love.



It's a movie that so perfectly captures the pain and anguish of loneliness, being misunderstood by your parents, bullied at school, and tormented over love. And it's brilliantly artistic in its cinematography, directing, and writing.

Juno was pretty good, but there are a couple of Ellen Page coming of age movies that I think were much better.

The Tracey Fragments, directed by Bruce McDonald, is a warped and fractured story with some bizarre camera effects.



And probably the best movie that Ellen Page ever made was Mouth to Mouth.




Allaby's Avatar
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My favourite coming of age films:

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.
Boyhood
Cuties
The Devil's Playground
Eighth Grade
Fat Girl
Hide and Seek (1996)
Inside Out 1 & 2
Lady Bird
Mustang
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Pretty Baby
Rushmore
Welcome to the Dollhouse



Some of my favorites:
1.Bridge to Terabithia
2.My Girl
3.Our Vines Have Tender Grapes
4.Sounder
5.The Yearling

Mark



Of the recent ones, Lady Bird was special. I am not huge fan of these type of movies, probably coz I have already "came of age"! But if done right, they are very good! Or just... Whateva!
Yeah, that was also part of it for me. I'm already of age. What does this movie offer me?
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Good grief, there are too many to consider.
It has always been the prime-function of mythology and rite to supply the symbols that carry the human spirit forward, in counteraction to those other constant human fantasies that tend to tie it back. ln fact, it may well be that the very high incidence of neurotlcism among ourselves follows from the decline among us of such effective spiritual aid. We remain fixated to the unexorcised images of our infancy, and hence disinclined to the necessary passages of our adulthood. In the United States there is even a pathos of inverted emphasis: the goal is not to grow old, but to remain young ... And so, while husbands are worshiping at their boyhood shrines, being the lawyers, merchants, or masterminds their parents wanted them to be, their wives, even after fourteen years of marriage and two fine children produced and raised, are still on the search for love—which can come to them only from the centaurs, sileni, satyrs, and other concupiscent incubi of the rout of Pan, either as in the second of the above-recited dreams, or as in our popular, vanilla-frosted temples of the venereal goddess, under the make-up of the latest heroes of the screen.
Joseph Campbell

These films are just whimsical "reboots" of our childhood. We imagine ourselves at the start anew and dream that things would be different, better, our whole lives ahead of us.

These films are only "coming of age" in the sense of sexual awakening and the very first glimmers of adult responsibility. The very tag suggests that you're "all set" and complete at the age of 18. In fact, you're only just starting to catch a clue. The message, however, is that you're only really interesting when you're between 14 and 24. After that your crystal has turned--report to carousel. What a horrible message to send to kids (e.g., you only have the "now" to live for is a bad message when you discover you will actually need a pension and savings) and an infantilizing message for adults.

These films are so common because we don't actually know how to grow up. There is very little "coming of age" (i.e,. actual maturation) in our movies. Aging terrifies us. We mock the elderly. We warehouse them. We hate them for hoarding wealth and making laws regulating things they don't understand.

A true coming of age film, IMO, is something like "I'm Not Rappaport." It's not hitting the easy button and resetting life to Level 1 again, and again, and again.



Victim of The Night
Just re-watched Fast Times At Ridgemont High last night I'll put that one in the pot.