Coming-of-Age on Screen

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We’ll Always Have the Music: Loving, Losing and Growing Up in La La Land.

Over the years since I first saw La La Land, it has become my second favorite movie — not only because of its excellence in every cinematic aspect, but because it has also become an emotional refuge in my life. Today, I want to delve into an analysis of why I consider it one of the films that has accompanied me in my personal growth and helped me mature through its lessons. Dreams vs. Reality One of La La Land’s most powerful themes is how it contrasts the dream world — bright, musical, idealist

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Hell is Absolutely a Teenage Girl: 'Jennifer's Body' and Its Importance as a Coming-of-Age Horror Film

In 2009 a film that would eventually become a cult classic made its theatrical debut and that film is Jennifer's Body. Despite the horrible reception it received from people who were expecting to see Megan Fox naked, Jennifer's Body has always resonated with various communities. More in particular, queer people, who may have also had the experience of being a teenage girl at the time or at one point. It hits a particular spot for many people and still manages to be an effective film. The film's

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Experiencing "A Series of Unfortunate Events"... Will Certainly Make Oneself Grow Up-- Real Fast-- Real Quick.

Maybe it's by divine design-- or my own self-fulfilling prophecy of fundamentally flawed undoing-- but I find the act of writing anything-- anywhere-- anymore-- near-next-to-impossible in any capacity-- that is-- without listening to music in concurrent harmony. I've tried, believe me. I've tried. I can't do it. I just can't do it. “Music’s the only thing that makes sense anymore, man. Play it loud enough, keeps the demons at bay.” More often than not, when I’m writing a new screenplay or comic

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Girls Will Be Anything But Themselves: An Exploration of Teenage Girls on Film

Diablo Cody once wrote: “Hell is a teenage girl.” Sofia Coppola, when posing the question of why a girl so young and bright would want to commit suicide, she wrote: “Obviously, doctor, you’ve never been a thirteen-year-old girl.” The greatest female minds of our cinematic generation can agree on one thing—being a teenage girl is a nightmare. Surviving those years means learning how to adapt. Adaptation, in this case, usually looks like shape-shifting, self-erasure, and occasionally setting your

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Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain (1995) - Queer awakening and the search for a girly adventure.

If you're not a kid from the 80's and 90's than you might not even have heard of this movie. Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain (1995) tells the story of two girls, Beth (Christina Ricci) and Jody (Anna Chlumsky), coming together to solve a mystery involving some gold supposedly hidden in a mountain near the town they live in. As most great coming of age stories do, the movie explores themes like trust, grief, friendship, abusive households and trauma while also delivering some pretty hea

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Sing Street: The Movie that Will Inspire to Chase Your Dreams!

Have you ever imagined to form a rock band with your friends and classmates and play around the world? That was every kid‘s dream in the 2000s and early 80s and 90s. This film remind us that every artist needs to chase what they want in life and Sing Street is a film that remind us how precious your dreams are. This film came out in 2016 and was directed and written by John Carney, known to direct dramas with musical elements and it came out with limited screens around the world, but over the ye

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Never Have I Ever ... - A highly representative and comedic teen series.

The series follows the routine of Devi, a teenager of Indian descent who has been through some tough times in the last year: she lost her father, her best friend, suddenly and, due to the trauma, her legs were paralyzed for months. Now that she can walk again, her biggest goal is to lose her virginity and become popular at her school, in order to dispel the stigma of being a “weird, paralyzed girl.” Never Have I Ever is a very funny series, it shows the teenage side that, although it is not the

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How Two Studio Ghibli Masterpieces Define Coming-of-Age Cinema: The Cinema of Becoming!

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step, but the journey of understanding begins with one frame." Here's the truth that changes everything once you recognise it: We are all living in the third act of our coming-of-age film ! This is my first article, written as I embark on the most important journey of my creative life. My "filler episodes" are done; this one, I intend for it to be canon. After years of loving cinema like from both sides of the screen , after countless hours of ana

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Heartstopper reminds us of the power of little things.

Synopsis: In this coming-of-age series, teenagers Charlie and Nick discover that they are more than just friends and must deal with the difficulties of school and love life. Nick Nelson is the rugby star, Charlie Spring is the only openly gay boy at the boys' school they both attend. When they become a pair in one of the classes, a friendship quickly forms, and they discover a great affinity. It doesn't take long for Charlie to feel a strong crush on Nick, but assumes the boy is straight; Nick b

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Under The Influence: Coming of Age in the Mid90s

I grew up in a dominantly male household. There was my mother, my father, my older brother, and myself. My mother's only female companion was our cat, but she was too erratic to depend on. On top of that, our house was a go-to hangout for my brother's friends who were, unsurprisingly, other boys — young, annoying, hockey-playing boys. My mother was a real one for the amount of literal shit she put up with. When I watched Jonah Hill's directorial debut, Mid90s, it felt like looking in a mirror. R

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Sing Street — The coming-of-age for every music lover

Among the vast world of hidden and underrated gems, you can find the Irish director John Carney. He has been on a small niche's radar since On the Edge (2001). This movie made him known, but he still needed to find his voice. So in 2007, with Once, he figured it out: music. This makes a lot of sense, since he used to be the bassist of his own band in Dublin: The Frames. That movie made him prestigious and popular enough to access a more popular cast. Then in 2013 he delivered Begin Again, with M

Rocky: The Rite of Passage of a Man Without a Name

“He’s not just a boxer. He’s the everyman facing the hardest fight: growing up.” Rocky Balboa wasn’t born in a privileged neighborhood. He wasn’t shaped by an ideal family, nor pushed by a bright destiny. He was an invisible man, a simple “nobody” who decided to take control of his own story. And in that decision, more than punches, he found his first true growth. 🥊 From loneliness to the ring: the space of meeting oneself In a world that left him aside, Rocky wakes every morning in a modest, d

Inside Out 2 - Relatable to the Core

In 2015, Pixar released Inside Out, starring Amy Poehler as Joy, the leader of five personified emotions inside the head of a preteen girl named Riley Andersen. With the film being a significant box office success and blowing away critics and audiences alike with its masterpiece of a story, it only made sense that a sequel eventually follow. And when I watched Inside Out 2, I was blown away myself. In this sequel, released almost precisely one year ago, Poehler and a few other cast members repri

This beautiful coming of age story invites you to discover family in the irish countryside

There are moments that mark us for a lifetime because people appear and leave us with lessons that we need to feel more complete. I assure you that if you see The Quiet Girl (2022), you will never forget that summer of 1981 that little Cáit lived. For many this is a small indie film with a lot of heart, certainly a work of small pretensions, but bigger in emotional connection. It´s the most beautiful coming of age film of recent years. Before delving into this touching film, let's define what al

VSFF: Best of 'Let Mama Go' Short Program

With nine solid films that explore different facets of mother-daughter relationships, spanning cultures, identities, and complexities, ‘Let Mama Go’ was an emotional and heartfelt program at the 2025 Vancouver Short Film Festival, leaving the audience with overwhelming emotions. For many of us, like myself, we rush to call our moms right after the screening. The well-curated program taps into topics of miscommunication, trauma, intergenerational differences, and healing, each film carrying such

We’ll Always Have the Music: Loving, Losing and Growing Up in La La Land.

Under The Influence: Coming of Age in the Mid90s

How Two Studio Ghibli Masterpieces Define Coming-of-Age Cinema: The Cinema of Becoming!

My feelings back in those days

The adolescent stage is a period full of uncertainties and also characterized by emotional, physical, and social development. It is a stage full of discoveries, whether positive or negative, challenges, and an incessant search for identity. In this context, there are several cinematic representations specifically designed to address these issues in a deep and reflective manner. "The Breakfast Club" is one of the films that best illustrates this transitional stage, directed by John Hughes in 1985

The Perks of Being a Wallflower: A reflection on your own life, your relationships, and the path to adulthood.

Dear reader, I am writing these lines with the intention that, if you have already seen the film, it will serve as a complement to what you felt when you saw it. If it was a long time ago, it will serve as a reminder and an invitation to see it again. And if you have never seen it, it will tempt you to get excited and enjoy one of the best films about the transition to youth and adulthood. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a book that has undoubtedly resonated deeply with teenage audiences. It