A Wave of Coming-of-Age Films

[Patrick Murtha]

Prompted by the imminent release of Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans, here is an interesting piece about the current wave of autobiographical coming-of-age films - a form that of course has a precedent literary pedigree. Novelists tend to do this FIRST, while film directors are waiting until well into their careers, when they have more power to make what they want.

https://www.vox.com/culture/23354839/memoir-autobiography-movies-fabelmans-bardo-spielberg

Re Spielberg: I watched the first airing of Duel as a 13-year-old in 1971, and was knocked off my chair. I immediately registered: This is not some semi-anonymous network production. SOMEONE made this. There is a sensibility here. And it was the first time I ever had that sensation watching American television.

You can just imagine the executives’ phone calls the next morning: “Who is this kid Spielberg?”

 

[Ben Jackson]

The Fablemens is one of those movies I would like to see this year. I haven't watched many autobiographical coming-of-age movies. Interestsing to see as it's about Spielberg.

 

[Patrick Murtha]

The trailer looks quite good, and I love Michelle Williams and Paul Dano.

I have my ups and downs with Spielberg, and of course I haven’t seen everything; I skip a lot of the more commercial films. But among his more recent movies, I like Munich (especially), Catch Me If You Can, Lincoln, and Minority Report.

 

[Ben Jackson]

I do love Munich, Catch me if You Can and Minority Report myself. I haven't seen his major works (I refer to works like Jaws, Close Encounter of Third Kind, E.T, Colour Purple) yet, but I do also love Raiders of the Lost Ark, a fun movie. Among all the movies I have seen, Schnidler's List and Saving Private Ryan standout for me. Hope to see Lincoln, The Post, War Horse and the movies I listed in the parentheses.

 

[Patrick Murtha]

I haven’t seen The Color Purple, Empire of the Sun, Amistad, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, The Terminal, War of the Worlds, War Horse, Bridge of Spies, The Post, West Side Story, and some others. So I am far from a Spielberg expert!

I have been saying for a long time, with respect to Spielberg and Scorsese and Ang Lee, among others, that I wish they would work small again occasionally, like Soderbergh, limit their means, refresh their resourcefulness and creativity. The same holds true for all successful directors: Don’t get overly dependent on the huge apparatus. Make larky, off-the-cuff, no-budget projects with one camera, in between the bigger more conventional films. Work lean and mean, as so many of them did at the start of their careers.

Joss Whedon’s best movie, his adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing, was made in his HOUSE, with all his actor friends from a lifetime of work.

 

[Liam]

So, what are people's favorite coming-of-age movies, anyway?

Mine is probably The 400 Blows, but I also love My Life as a Dog, Ratcatcher, Walkabout (if you can call it a coming-of-age film at all), and The Long Day Closes.

 

[Stevie B]

So, what are people's favorite coming-of-age movies, anyway?

Mine is probably The 400 Blows, but I also love My Life as a Dog, Ratcatcher, Walkabout (if you can call it a coming-of-age film at all), and The Long Day Closes.

My Life as a Dog is an all-time favorite. Got to love Ingemar.

 

[Patrick Murtha]

I especially like narratives about late and post-adolescence, “young adulthood”. Fellini’s I Vitelloni is the first that comes to mind; Barry Levinson’s Diner is a rough American equivalent. The Last Picture Show is very moving, and Frank Perry’s Last Summer, based on the Evan Hunter novel, is unnerving in its peculiar attention to the dark side of coming-of-age, which most such stories elide.

 

[Liam]

Some coming-of-age films about young girls, specifically: My Summer of Love, Somersault, Thirteen.

 

[Leseratte]

Films I remember:
Juno
Little Women
Persepolis(loved it)
Harold and Maude
Dead Poets Society
The Graduate
The City of God (only partly)
Atonement

 

[Patrick Murtha]

^ That is a nice list!

 

[Patrick Murtha]

Some coming-of-age films about young girls, specifically: My Summer of Love, Somersault, Thirteen.

An Education is really good.

 

[Stevie B]

An Education is really good.

Agreed. Loved Carey Mulligan in that one. I'll add Sing Street to the list.

 

[Patrick Murtha]

^ Wasn’t she great? That was an “arrival” film, as in she had. ?

By all reports, she is terrific on stage too. I wish I could have seen her in the one-woman play Girls and Boys, which she played in London and New York a few years ago.

Just thought of another UK coming-of-age example I really liked: The History Boys. I coached a team of six “philosophy boys” for debate competition at Tec Prepa in Culiacán, and they scored high in the entire Tecnológico de Monterrey system of some 30 high schools nationwide after winning our campus, so The History Boys gets an extra smile out of me.

 

[tiganeasca]

Just re-watched 400 Blows again recently. Wonderful. My all-time favorite in this category has to be To Kill A Mockingbird. Am also surprised to see no mention of Cinema Paradiso. Perhaps not precisely "coming-of-age" but it seems reasonable to include it here. Stand By Me is brilliant as is The Professional (I love Jean Reno!). And even Summer of '42 has its moments. And I certainly give a thumb's-up to City of God.

A few more for the list:

A River Runs Through It
Badlands
Picnic at Hanging Rock
Aparajito
Rebel Without A Cause
Pan's Labyrinth
Ladybird
Moonlight
Breakfast Club
Paper Moon

 

[Liam]

^Pan's Labyrinth was a harrowing experience, but your mention of it reminded me of one of my favorite Spanish films of all time: The Spirit of the Beehive,

I haven't seen Kes, but people have been recommending it to me left and right.

One of my favorite coming-of-age series of films from a documentarian is the Bill Douglas Trilogy, I can't recommend it highly enough. So simple, and yet so magnificent in its black-and-white beauty.

 

[Patrick Murtha]

^Pan's Labyrinth was a harrowing experience, but your mention of it reminded me of one of my favorite Spanish films of all time: The Spirit of the Beehive,

I haven't seen Kes, but people have been recommending it to me left and right.

One of my favorite coming-of-age series of films from a documentarian is the Bill Douglas Trilogy, I can't recommend it highly enough. So simple, and yet so magnificent in its black-and-white beauty.

My favorite del Toro film, The Devil’s Backbone, could also be considered coming-of-age (among other things!).

 

[Ben Jackson]

Films I remember:
Juno
Little Women
Persepolis(loved it)
Harold and Maude
Dead Poets Society
The Graduate
The City of God (only partly)
Atonement

Love Atonement so much. I don't know which's better between the novel and the movie.

Dead Poets Society and The Graduate are also favourites. Lady Bird, Moonlight, To Kill a Mockingbird as well. Haven't seen the rest.

Thanks for the recs, friends.

 

[Leseratte]

Love Atonement so much. I don't know which's better between the novel and the movie.

Dead Poets Society and The Graduate are also favourites. Lady Bird, Moonlight, To Kill a Mockingbird as well. Haven't seen the rest.

Thanks for the recs, friends.

Going to see the film of To Kill a Mockingbird.Just found it on line:

Lakeshore Classic Movies | To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) | PBS

Young girl recounts how her father defended a black man charged with rape in 1930 Alabama.

www.pbs.org