Top Five Coming-of-Age Movies

Coming-of-Age movies have always been a common genre in the film industry, no matter what genre it's mixed with or the country, it's something that we all have experienced in one way or another. So if you look at the date carefully, I will give you my top five coming-of-age movies.

In alphabetical order...

The 400 Blows (1959, Dir. Francois Truffaut)

In 1958, Francois Truffaut, then a critic for the film magazine 'Cahiers du Cinema', was the only French critic to not be invited to the Cannes Film Festival as he was seen to be too harsh. The next year he was presented the best director prize and won the heart of every cinephile who has seen The 400 Blows since. The movie is semi-autobiographical for Truffaut. Jean-Pierre Léaud (who was 15 at the time) plays 'Antoine Doinel' in a performance that is ranked among the best of all-time.

Antoine Doinel is a troubled boy, his parents don't give him the attention he deserves, therefore he's a trouble maker both at school and home. His teacher hates him, he jigs school and he's a confused boy. The end of the movie is probably the one of the most famous of all-time, every time a movie ends with 'fin', it's most likely directed at this film. Also Akira Kurosawa once said "One of the most beautiful films that I have ever seen."

Boyhood (2014, Dir. Richard Linklater)

Before Boyhood, Linklater had given has the most believable relationship ever with Jesse and Celine in the before trilogy and another coming-of-age movie with Dazed and Confused ("alright, alright, alright", if you don't know what that movie is). But in 2014, after 12 years of shooting Linklater somehow gave us his magnum opus after so many hits already.

Following the story of Mason, played by Ellar Coltrane, we see Mason's whole childhood, starting from about the age of 7 and finishing at 19. Like life the movie has no dramatic story but it doesn't mean there isn't anything interesting. His mother gets married twice, he finishes high school, starts talking to girls and more. Like Linklater's previous efforts he finds the beauty of life and relationships between the lines.

Juno (2007, Dir. Jason Reitman)

Admittedly I didn't think this film was my cup of tea, but after some reviews, notably one by Roger Ebert. In the end i'm glad I watched this movie. I don't know what there isn't to love about this movie. Ellen Page's performance, or even Michael Cera's, the last name of the main character (McGuff), seeing Ellen Page and Jason Bateman talk about music and horror movies or "All I Want Is You" by Barry Louis Polisar at the beginning of the movie, take your pick.

Juno was written by Diablo Cody who has never really reached the heights but even if she never wrote another movie apart from this one she would be remembered for a longtime to come. The movie also serves a great study about abortion and adoption for teenagers and from what I've read about the American education system, the movie probably deals with the quite often touchy topics better than most schools or even parents.

Moonrise Kingdom (2012, Dir. Wes Anderson)

This is by far the most comedic and fun of the five movies I have chosen but it doesn't lack great characters like the rest. The main two characters are played by Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward. Gilman plays Sam, a khaki scout who is bullied because he's emotionally different and Hayward plays Suzy, a girl with behavioral issues and they run away together. They're supported by the rest of the a-list cast Anderson assembled for the film. Bruce Willis, Ed Norton, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Harvey Keitel and Jazon Schwartzman.

I need to give special mention to Kara Hayward because on the Criterion Collection edition for the move you can watch her audition tape and I actually forgot that I was watching an audition tape (and Wes Anderson did too). The movie overall is a colourful, funny, touching and overall enjoyable film to watch.

Stand by Me (1986, Rob Reiner)

In everyone's lifetime they will come across a movie that hits them emotionally but if they watched it earlier or later in their life it wouldn't have had the same affect. To me that movie is Stand By Me. Based off a novella by Stephen King (published in the same book as The Shawshank Redemption), the movie follows four boys as they go out looking for the body of a missing boy.

The movie stars Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman and Jerry O'Connell as the four boys, with Wheaton and Phoenix as the main two characters who both gave performances that shouldn't ever be forgotten. When the four of them go out looking for the body they are boys but what happens will change them forever and by the time the movie ends and Stand by Me by Ben E King plays it's hard to have an overwhelming emotion come over you.

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So those are my top five coming-of-age movies. What are your favorites?

Other movie I considered putting here (but didn't for one reason or another) include... Blue Velvet, The Graduate, Submarine, Dazed and Confused, Blue is the Warmest Colour, We are the Best!, Ferris Buller's Day Off, Little Miss Sunshine, Mean Girls, City of God, Good Will Hunting, Dead Poets Society and Rushmore.