Let me also add;
Everyone’s all time favorites
“Pretty in Pink,”
“Reality Bites,”
“Clueless”
From my good old days
“L’auberge espagnole,”
“Big Girls Don’t Cry,”
“Girl”
Fresh from the markets,
“The Wackness,”
“Hey Hey Hey It’s Esther Blueburger”
Hey Yuri. I agree with you. “Big Girls Don’t Cry” and “Girl” were also both amazing coming-of-age movies. I have a feeling that “Girl” will be getting a bigger audience now since the writer of the novel, Blake Nelson, also wrote the new Gus Van Sant movie “Paranoid Park,” which was a very interesting movie, however I am assuming the book was a lot more interesting. Since, recently, I read the novel “Girl” by Blake Nelson, and I loved it…It was very dark, edgy and also had the same rebellious mood of the movie. I highly recommend it as a read for a good coming-of-age novel!
I also think “Persepolis” belongs to this list as well, since it was a remarkable and highly artistic coming-of-age movie!!!
“Welcome to the Dollhouse,” what do you say?
I would say ‘Welcome to The Dollhouse’ most definitely belongs to the list. I don’t know how I forgot it…
“Pretty in Pink”, “Boys Don’t Cry”, “Virgin Suicides”, “Almost Famous”, and “Little Romance”…
American directors seem to be the experts of this genre.
Where has Andrew McCarthy gone?
I saw Molly Ringwald on West End stage in London. It was sad.
James Spader in “Secretary” was absolutely gorgeous.
I forgot to add “Sweet Sixteen” by Ken Loach
and “Melody (aka S.W.A.L.K.)” which is a cult classic hit in Japan!
This Boy’s Life (1993) by Michael Caton-Jones comes to my mind. It is based on a book by Tobias Wolff which is definitely a bildingsroman.
Into the Wild (2007) by Sean Penn… and Good Will Hunting (1997) by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck… are also coming of age films I liked.
There’s also Bridge to Terabithia (2006) by Gabor Csupio.
Luna Park (1992) by Pavel Lungin (director, story and screenplay writer of this Russian film)
The two that immediatly come to mind are “Stand By Me” by Rob Reiner and of course “Almost Famous”. Of the already mentioned, I also really enjoyed “Trainspotting”, “Into The Wild”, and “Persepolis”.
A recent one I thought was great, Juno.
The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles and all the quirky teen comedies with John Cusack.
Rain (NZ)
The Unbelievable Truth
Somersault (Australia)
Pan’s Labyrinth (Spain)
The Ice Storm
Edward Yang’s A Brighter Summer Day.
That’s a darn hard movie to see, Eli.
Well, you can find it over eBay and for download in a pretty poor print and that’s how I first saw it. I saw it around two weeks ago at the cinematheque here and even though the print wasn’t in exactly excellent condition it was still a revelation. I really wish that a DVD of it would come out sooner or later but it does not seem like that’ll happen, and it’s even more unfortunate considering how visually accomplished the film is.
Pan’s Labyrinth
Any John Cusack comedy
The Return (thank you, Auteurs!)
Good Will Hunting
Almost Famous
The Ice Storm
Atom Egoyan’s Exotica (I’m not sure if this fits, but I’ll put it on the list anyway.)
These are pretty well-known, the Coming-of-Age genre is so broad that just about any movie where a character’s world view changes can be seen as in this genre. However, it remains one of the most endearing types of films as well.
Gilliam’s Tideland, superior to Pan’s Labyrinth as childhood cinema of 2006!
Little Darlings (1980)
The Chocolate War (1988) by Keith Gordon
The River (1951) by Jean Renoir
Cinema Paradiso
Malena
Born on the Fourth of July
River’s Edge
Picnic at Hanging Rock
“Foxes” (1980) by Adrian Lyne
“The Little Girl who Lives Down the Lane” (1976)
Both star Jodie Foster who used to be my hero(ine) until she had a test-tube baby…
The year my parents went on vacation
machuca
Ivan’s childhood
The Chorus (Les choristes)
Louis malle’s classics:
Murmur of the heart(Le souffle au coeur)
Goodbye children(Au revoir les enfants)
Lacombe, Lucien
Zazie dans le métro
My favorites are The return, le souffle au coeur and Persepolis…
Machuca!
Shane Meadows “A Room For Romeo Brass”?
Actually there are a lot !
as top of the list i put : the Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, USA), the coming-of-age through a classic American tale ! and then :
mala education (Almodovar, Spain)
Rozeta (Darden bros, Belgium)
Battle Royale (kinzi fu kaskou,Japon)
Novecento (bertolucci, Italia)
Roco and his brothers (Viskonti, Italia)
When father was Away on buisiness (Kusturitsa, Serbia)
Velvet Goldmine (Heinz, Great Britain)
Dead Poet Society (Weir, USA)
spring, sumer,fall, winter…and spring (Kim ki Douk, Korea)
Billy Elliot (Walters, Great Britain)
La Vitta est Bella (Benini, Italia)
La Vie en Rose (? Belgium)
Lolita (Kubrick, USA/Great Britain)
Telos Epoxhs (Gramatikos, Greece)
Diskoloi apoxairismoi, o mpampas mou (Panagiotopoulou, Greece)
Kolya (? ceska)
Big Fish (Barton, USA)
…..and in my opinion for the adults that never grows up : La decline de l’empire americaine/Les invasions barbares (Arkan, Canada)
Y tu mama tambien is an excellent comming of age film.
I agree for the Wizard of Oz, the coming of age classic.
“Zazie dans le métro” (louis malle) is also one, giving her infamous “J’ai grandi” at the end.
A lot of road movies are coming of age films, like “Little miss Sunshine”…
“Garden State” maybe. “The little mermaid” to not exagerate. “Pinnochio”. “Edward Scissorhands”. “Meet me in St. Louis”. “Les parapluies de Cherbourg”. “Barry Lindon”. “Velvet Goldmine”. “The age of innocence”. “Gigi”.
My Little Loves by Jean Eustache!
Most of my picks have already been named. Here are a few that haven’t been mentioned:
Au Revoir Les Enfants
Carrie
A.I.
Leon (aka The Professional )
Lord of the Flies (obviously)
Thumbsucker
À ma soeur! (aka Fat Girl )
Amarcord
Walkabout
Lila dit ça (aka Lila Says ) (highly recommended)
Ginger Snaps (offbeat Canadian werewolf flick where the real “beast” to contend with is adolescence and sexuality)
and one of my favorite movies, Neil Jordan’s The Company of Wolves_. It incorporates elements from Little Red Riding Hood and goes wild with them. Like surrealist Freudian symbolism? Eat your heart out. It’s beautiful to look at, like watching a dream, with an equally captivating score and a gorgeous leading young lady who I can’t believe didn’t go on to become a star. Now that I think about it, several of Jordan’s films could qualify for this category (_The Butcher Boy, Breakfast on Pluto, etc.).
Oops, almost forgot Jodorowsky’s Santa Sangre. El Topo belongs here, too.
Agreement with most of the previously mentioned films.
Gotta add in Satyajit Ray’s Apu trilogy: (Pather Panchali, Aparajito, The World Of Apu).
Halim Cillov
Fernando Eimbcke’s ‘Lake Tahoe’, like his previous film ‘Duck Season’ deals with the hardships and pains of growing up. This made me think about the whole Coming-of-Age genre which is becoming more and more popular every year. Festival Smash-hits like ‘Son of Rambow,’ ‘Rocket Science,’ ‘Napoleon Dynamite’ and even Wes Anderson’s wildly popular ‘Rushmore’ are one of only few films that proves the popularity of this genre. This made think about what are the best movies of this genre. Here goes my favorites list:
François Truffaut ‘s “Les Quatre cents coups” (The 400 Blows) which is probably the quintessential coming-of-age movie of Cinema History.
Ingmar Bergman’s “Fanny and Alexander”
Takeshi Kitano’s Kids Return
The most unique and original take-on Salinger’s beloved ‘Catcher in the Rye" novel: “Igby Goes Down”
The heartbreaking and sweet Sundance hit from last year “Rocket Science”
Another Sundance Smash Hit “Thumbsucker”
The bold and daring Canadian Coming-of-Age bio-drama “C.R.A.Z.Y.”
Danny Boyle’s Controversial and gripping “Trainspotting”
Cameron Crowe’s sensational “Almost Famous”
Dito Montiel’s non-linear narrative " A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints"
Last year’s “Half- Nelson”
Augusten Burroughs wild and unique autobiography “Running With Scissors”
Lukas Moodyson’s honest and ultra-disturbing ‘Lilja-4-Ever’ as well as his equally successful and un-characteristically sweet coming-of-age drama “Show Me Love”
Amelie like, French hit “Ma Vie En Rose”
And, the electrifying Russian Hit: The Return
I wonder what are some other Coming-of-Age movies that people loved…