# Films about the journey to adulthood



## Guest (Oct 7, 2020)

I was just writing about "Stand by Me" and thought about this genre of films; the 'bildungsroman' of cinema, if you will. What are some that you've really liked, or considered less successful? It can embrace actual childhood experiences right through to university and nascent careers.

"*Dead Poet's Society*" (Peter Weir). A very good film, with excellent performances and a superb script. Robin Williams was never better, IMO. Some important themes; conformity versus individuality, personal choices versus social expectations (a tragic outcome in this film) and the weight of tradition and expectation on young lives.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Coming on age films, eh? *Little Women* comes to mind (also one of my favorite books, but difficult to adapt). But all of the themes you mention, can also be applied.

*Call Me By Your Name* is another journey to adulthood over a single summer, falling in love being the catalyst.

A horrific event in Peter Weir's *Picnic at Hanging Rock* precipitates several journeys amongst a group of schoolgirls.

*My Brilliant Career*, which brought us Judy Davis, is another journey that presents different results to the initial ambition.

Jane Austen strikes again, with Emma the novel, begetting *Clueless* the vehicle that shows us how popularity can be a double edge sword.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

Obvious mention fo Boyhood (Richard Linklater).
But maybe my favorite one is a little forgotten gem from the eighties, the australian coming of age movie The year my voice broke (John Duigan).
















I forgot to mention A brighter summer day. A quite legendary movie to many cinephiles. I have to revisit it sometimes.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Oh, I forgot *Rebel Without A Cause*, one of the quintessential coming of age films with James Dean starring as the nucleus of a group of kids around whom thoughts and actions bring about unforeseen events that end in tragedy.

Sticking with Dean, his first film, *East Of Eden*, another wonderful film script based on the John Steinbeck novel, the protagonist, Carl, is always trying to please and win the love of his father, but always seems to fail. Sort of a Cain and Abel story, with sibling rivalry at the heart of the story along with a love triangle.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Need I say more? The movie that helped us grow up, maybe...or allowed us to skip it.

In case you didn't know, it's called *Star Wars*.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

this thread reminded me that I have to watch as soon as possible Mes petites amoureuses. For the few things I've read about it, I think it's a movie I will like a lot.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

As you can see, there are many. Going foreign, *Pan's Labyrinth*, and *Y Tu Mamá También* show us two very different ways to mature, the oppressed going into a fantasy world, and the "road trip," always a catalyst for change.

View attachment 144115
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(Help! I can't stop!) :lol:


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## Guest (Oct 7, 2020)

MAS said:


> Coming on age films, eh? *Little Women* comes to mind (also one of my favorite books, but difficult to adapt). But all of the themes you mention, can also be applied.
> 
> *Call Me By Your Name* is another journey to adulthood over a single summer, falling in love being the catalyst.
> 
> ...


I absolutely loved "*Call me by your Name*"!!! That's the young actor from "Beautiful Boy"!!


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## Guest (Oct 7, 2020)

MAS said:


> As you can see, there are many. Going foreign, *Pan's Labyrinth*, and *Y Tu Mamá También* show us two very different ways to mature, the oppressed going into a fantasy world, and the "road trip," always a catalyst for change.
> 
> View attachment 144115
> View attachment 144116
> ...


It would be useful to discuss HOW each film develops the idea of growth and change on the journey to adulthood. What does the character in "*Call Me by Your Name*", for example, learn about life? That love can be fleeting and that not all our objects of love are the ideal characters we imagine them to be. Also, that parents really do get it - and I'm unsure whether the central character was going to have ongoing issues with sexual identity.

(I taught a similar unit for senior high school English years ago called "the Journey". One text - in the unit I created myself - included "My Brilliant Career", film and novel.)


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Eté 85.
Now in cinema , DVD out later this year


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## Guest (Oct 8, 2020)

I don't know this film but I'd like to. Also, I very much enjoyed Louis Malle's "Au Revoir les Enfants" - a poignant and moving film set in WW2.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

American Graffiti, Last Picture Show, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Lady Bird and Booksmart. Booksmart was a tough watch for me, a real chick flick. I hated the 2nd half of Boyhood, the main character became annoying to me as the years wore on.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Iconic movie.


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## Guest (Oct 9, 2020)

Phil loves classical said:


> American Graffiti, Last Picture Show, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Lady Bird and Booksmart. Booksmart was a tough watch for me, a real chick flick. I hated the 2nd half of Boyhood, the main character became annoying to me as the years wore on.


Can you explain your last sentence,


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

I think that Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain at least should be mentioned.


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## Guest (Oct 9, 2020)

Azol said:


> I think that Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain at least should be mentioned.


Can you tell us about it please?


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amélie
I'm not too good at describing movies but it deals with themes like children vs their parents and how childhood dreams later transform into actual lives.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Christabel said:


> Can you explain your last sentence,


I think I tend to relate it to many other teens I've seen around that age. The feeling of superiority (or invulnerability) and that the world revolves around them.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

_All Quiet on the Western Front_ (1930 and 1979).

Not long after the outbreak of WWI a close-knit group of German schoolfriends enlist, mainly out of patriotism but also the possibility that the war could actually be an adventure (a delusion perhaps based on the comprehensive Prussian victories in the short wars against Austria and France over forty years before). They all grow up quicker than they probably hoped due to the gruelling training regime and the subsequent horrors of trench warfare. Only one lad survives, as I recall, and even he lost a leg.


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

*Akahige*
A Rebel Without A Cause
Wall Street

BTW, Amelie is one of my favorite movies, though it is more a comedy/romantic film than coming into adulthood movie


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Phil loves classical said:


> I hated the 2nd half of Boyhood, the main character became annoying to me as the years wore on.


Our expectations of our children are almost always dashed. The teenage years I think are the worst, when your darling child becomes a monstrous bundle of anger, resentment, defiance and rebellion. And I'm only talking about the movies! Real life I don't know...


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

MAS said:


> Our expectations of our children are almost always dashed. The teenage years I think are the worst, when your darling child becomes a monstrous bundle of anger, resentment, defiance and rebellion. And I'm only talking about the movies! Real life I don't know...


Unfortunately it's like that in real life sometimes. But once in a while, the kid you thought was bad, turns out great during those years.


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## Guest (Oct 9, 2020)

elgars ghost said:


> _All Quiet on the Western Front_ (1930 and 1979).
> 
> Not long after the outbreak of WWI a close-knit group of German schoolfriends enlist, mainly out of patriotism but also the possibility that the war could actually be an adventure (a delusion perhaps based on the comprehensive Prussian victories in the short wars against Austria and France over forty years before). They all grow up quicker than they probably hoped due to the gruelling training regime and the subsequent horrors of trench warfare. Only one lad survives, as I recall, and even he lost a leg.


The Lewis Milestone version from 1930 is a superb film, with Lew Ayres in a leading roll. So many extraordinary moments, not least the tracking shots during battle - which would have been comparatively early examples of the '_mobile frame_' after the introduction of sound film - and not just 'international sound'. This film was made in two versions simultaneously - one for sound and the other for 'international sound'.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Sound_Version

The final shot of the film is apposite, as is the closing superimposition of the soldiers looking back to camera (the same shot used 3 years later by Mervyn le Roy for "Gold-diggers of 1933"). The scene in the trench when the Ayes characters 'talks' to the dying man and looks at photographs of his family; the famous scene with the boots of the dead friend and the preceding scene of him dying:

https://silentfilm.org/all-quiet-on-the-western-front/

The late 20's/early 30s are exceptionally interesting for film afficionados because of the development of sound. Some films were made twice, simultaneously, like "The Blue Angel" - but this was made in German and English for international consumption. This practice was also to occur later, for example when a film was made simultaneously in 'regular' 35mm and also wide-screen. "*Carousel*" was photographed this way and Frank Sinatra had been cast as Billy Bigalow but refused the role because he didn't want to make the film 'twice'.

"Carousel" was made in *CinemaScope 55*, and DeLuxe Color. It was, however, ultimately shown in regular 35 mm *CinemaScope* rather than the 55mm version of the process, although the original premiere did feature a six-track magnetic stereo soundtrack specially devised for CinemaScope 55. _It was played on a separate machine synchronized with the picture_. All of the other prints of the film were composite prints, and used the standard 4-track stereo soundtrack featured on regular CinemaScope films circa 1953-1957.

(All this technical film history is tremendously interesting, to me!)


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Christabel said:


> The Lewis Milestone version from 1930 is a superb film, with Lew Ayres in a leading roll. So many extraordinary moments, not least the tracking shots during battle - which would have been comparatively early examples of the '_mobile frame_' after the introduction of sound film - and not just 'international sound'. This film was made in two versions simultaneously - one for sound and the other for 'international sound'.
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Sound_Version
> 
> ...


*Oklahoma* was also shot in two processes with Todd-AO, Mike Tod's baby, and CinemaScope.


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