Growing Pains: The Best Coming of Age Films (Part 2)

If you’ve ever come away from a film, and it’s so life-affirming, bittersweet, and creates an oh-my-god-this-is-me moment, then it’s likely to be a coming of age film. They manage to capture the very best and worst of growing up, making you simultaneously nostalgic for and grateful that you’ve finished this part of your life. The coming of age presents simple universal truths, wrapped up in different tensions from the context. It’s incredibly difficult to narrow them down, but we’ve rounded up some of the very best below. 

Fish Tank (2009)

15 year old Mia constantly fights with her mum and younger sister and is on the brink of being sent to a school for troubled teens, when mum’s new boyfriend Conor walks into  the kitchen one morning. He encourages Mia’s love of dance and takes her and her sister on a trip, but their attraction towards each other threatens to topple everything. You will not forget this film in a hurry, with its skilful combination of careful cinematography, noughties hip hop and powerful social commentary. 

Lady Bird (2017)

An absolute gem from Greta Gerwig (but when are they not?), which follows ‘Lady Bird’s final year in college in early 2000’s Sacramento. Gerwig perfectly captures the frustration of outgrowing your hometown and the people within it which often defines your teenage years. But can you ever truly escape the place that made you? The car scene is also borderline iconic and wryly indicative of the fraught relationship with parents at this age.

Moonlight (2016)

This Oscar-winning film charts the life of ‘Black’ as he struggles with his identity and sexuality while growing up in Miami. Each third of the film shows the protagonist in a different stage of his identity, literally giving himself different names, and we finally meet him in young adulthood. The film combines stunning visual effects with harsh themes, but it is truly mesmerising.

Rebel Without A Cause (1956)

This 50s classic cemented James Dean as the symbol of a generation, in his iconic red jacket and cigarette hanging out of his mouth. As well as being a coming of age, the film was also one of the first mainstream teen movies — with the concept of the teenager (as opposed to childhood then adulthood) being relatively new at the time.

Persepolis (2007)

This beautifully animated film (based on a graphic novel) follows a young girl’s coming of age. However, the stakes are much higher here as she rebels against the backdrop of the Iranian Revolution. The girl’s relationship with her grandmother is so moving, and the whole film is so unlike everything else I’ve seen. I watched it with subtitles so it takes a little bit more concentration, but it needs be on your watch list immediately.

Lola (2019)

When Lola learns that her mother has died, she confronts her estranged father after he ensures she misses the funeral. To make sure that her mother’s ashes are scattered where she wished, Lola and her father must go on a road trip together — forcing them to confront years of family history and trauma. This has French subtitles, but again, I promise it is worth giving it your attention span.

Call Me By Your Name (2017)

What this film does so brilliantly is capturing time and setting, it’s somewhere vaguely Italian on a family summer holiday, which means that it could be you on a family holiday somewhere in Italy when Armie Hammer walks into your life. In the winter, I’ll be watching it with a cocktail in hand, SAD lamp on full whack and a big box of tissues on standby. 

Rocks (2020)

15 year old ‘Rocks’ has a great bunch of friends and aspires to be a makeup artist but after her mother abandons her and her younger brother, she has to navigate caring, homelessness and learning to ask for help. Unlike many other coming of age films, Rocks is set in the current era and manages to capture a particular authenticity about female friendship so expertly.

Submarine (2010)

I’ve mentioned this film before and I have no hesitation about mentioning it again. Submarine follows Swansea teenager Oliver as tries to stop his parents’ marriage falling apart while trying to win the affections of pyromaniac classmate Jordana. This is a brilliant choice if you’re geeky about films, with it drawing upon other coming of age classics such as The 400 Blows, Harold and Maude and The Breakfast Club.


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Written by Sophie Ellis

Sophie is a twenty-something cafe assistant near Bristol and Bath. You can usually find her trying to perfect her latte art and book shopping, but ideally, she's by the beach.

Film, OpinionGuest User