Coming of age

To anyone well aged and jaded, or fresh out of a Sundance screening, the term ‘coming-of-age’ drama is likely to engender a nervy shudder. There’s only so many varying ways to present a child’s realisation of who he/she is, or what he/she wants to be – at least, this belief has been instilled in us by many films within the genre; Jordan Vogt-Robert’s recent Kings of Summer is a prime example of a film that’s content to play things by the book, relying on a youthful humour to distract us from its thin, cautionary tale of humility. Other films, like the Palme D’or winner Blue is the Warmest Colour, apparently adopt a bolder approach in confronting true desires at the heart of a flowering emergence into adulthood (not that I’ve seen it yet, mind you).

It is a blessing and a curse to be a teenager with a wayward imagination, the former because even the most mundane objects in life can be imbued with some sense of mystery and wonder, and the latter because the more fantastical you make the world, the more let down you’ll be when reality sets in.

Top 6 Teen Comedies of the 80’s When it comes to movies, there are two things that the early-to-mid-1980s are best known for: slasher films and teen comedies. Here is a list of my favorite teen comedies of the 1980’s. 7- Sixteen Candles (1984) One of the many collaborations with John Hughes and Molly Ringwald, …

Adventureland 2009, USA Directed by: Greg Mottola Written by: Greg Mottola Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Kirstin Stewart, Bill Hader, Kirstin Wiig, Martin Starr, Michael Zegen Based on his own real life experience working summers at an amusement park in Long Island, NY, Greg Mottola’s follow up to last summer’s sleeper hit Superbad is a poignant and …