The Best Coming of Age Movies of The 21st Century
Our new century is growing up! She’s 25 years old, turning 26! Her frontal lobe has just fully formed, and she’s ready to take on the world! Her early twenties were rough, but hey, whose weren’t? She might not be fully matured yet, but she’s doing the best she can with the pandemics and political instability she’s been given! To celebrate her success, here’s a list of the ten best coming of age films of the 21st century. While modern times are hard enough to manage, at least we don’t have to contend with killer clowns and preteen vampires like some of the poor young people on this list do. Growing up is never easy, but it always makes for a great story – these are ten of the best.
Let The Right One In
Directed by Tomas Alfredson, Let The Right One In is a timeless story of a boy and a girl, one of whom happens to be a vampire. Set in frigid, snowy Sweden, a lonely and bullied boy named Oskar strikes up a friendship with a little girl named Eli, who only seems to come out at night. Nothing suspicious there! After the death of the girl’s caretaker, Oskar sees himself looking out for his new gf – working to keep her secret safe and her appetite sated. Despite its tender subject matter, the film isn’t afraid to put monstrous behavior on full display. I’m not talking about Eli, I’m talking about everyday monsters – the bullies who torture Oskar and the adults who ignore him. When meeting a carnivorous creature of the night is the best thing that’s ever happened to you, your childhood hasn’t exactly been a happy one – but it’s all just growing pains! Bloody, nasty, flesh-tearing growing pains.
Spirited Away
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki, Spirited Away is the story of ten-year old Chihiro Ogino, the only person in the Ogino family who has a single braincell to spare. After her parents get turned into pigs while eating obviously cursed food in a haunted town, Chihiro is forced to save them from being devoured by a night parade of spirits. How does a little girl like her intend to survive without the safety of mom and dad? Like any other adult must: by getting a job. Working for a cantankerous witch at a spiritual bathhouse, Chihiro hopes to hold out long enough to figure out a rescue plan. With the help of an oddly familiar dragonboy, she might just pull it off. A dreamy film as whimsical as it is terrifying, this is Alice In Wonderland for a new century.
City of God
Directed by Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund, City of God is a coming of age epic following a group of children growing up in a Brazilian favela. The Cidade de Deus in Rio De Janero is a tough place to live, and its kids have to get equally tough in order to survive. The new generation’s struggles are chronicled by Rocket, an amateur photographer with a criminal past. As Rocket grows up, he sees many of his childhood acquaintances blossom into full blown crime lords – killers and thieves made ruthless and cruel. At its core, City of God tells a cyclical coming of age story of crime. The old crime bosses take the young under their wings, the survivors become the new bosses, the new bosses train the next generation – the circle of violence continues. According to Rocket’s journalistic observations, it won’t be broken anytime soon.
The Florida Project
Directed by Sean Baker, The Florida Project takes its title from a code name used for Walt Disney World, used during the theme park’s planning stages. The action is set not far from the fairytale paradise, in a gritty strip of the Floridian real world. Six year old Moonee and her mother Halley live in The Magic Castle – a budget motel in the town of Kissimmee. Halley has recently lost her job at the strip club, and is struggling to provide for her daughter; Moonee herself is blissfully unaware of their dire financial circumstances. That sweet ignorance is maintained in part by Bobby, the kindly manager of the motel, who attempts to shield Moonee from the nastiness of the real world. While Bobby, Halley and their neighbors due their best to protect Moonee, they can’t keep her safe forever. The real world comes knocking for every kid, and in poor Moonee’s case, it kicks the door down.
Moonlight
One of the most celebrated films of the 21st century, Moonlight tells the three part story of Chiron – a Black man who came of age at the height of the crack epidemic in Miami. As the adolescent Chiron tries to find a place within his community, his struggles are exacerbated by his budding attraction to men – a side of himself that he is not allowed to show. Moonlight is a story of self-acceptance, even when the world refuses to accept you. A painful portrait of a man’s strained with relationship with his neighbors, his lovers, his nation, and his mother, Moonlight is a queer coming of age drama that many marginalized viewers are sure to resonate with. And the cinematography? Every frame is a modern Renaissance painting.
Lady Bird
Directed by Greta Gerwig, Ladybird is a love letter to young woman everywhere – particularly those subjected to a Catholic school education. Set in Sacramento in early 2000s, the plot follows Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson – a senior in a Catholic high school. Not content with her family’s hand to mouth existence, Lady Bird dreams of going to college in city with “culture” on the East Coast – her exasperated mother Marion has different plans. A coming of age drama about the moment that child learns their parents are people too, Lady Bird is a drama about two women with fundamentally different viewpoints – of the future, of faith, of themselves, and of each other. While they work out the kinks of their relationship not exactly healthy ways (jumping out of moving cars being one of them) they eventually realize that their mother/daughter connection is sacred, and worth maintaining.
The Hunt For The Wilderpeople
Directed by Taika Waititi, The Hunt For The Wilderpeople will make you cry like only the best laugh out loud comedies can. It’s the story of Ricky Baker, a troubled foster care kid taken in by kindly Bella and her gruff husband Hector. After Bella’s sudden and devastating death, Hector is told that Ricky will be taken back into state custody – Ricky won’t let that happen. Ricky runs off into the New Zealand bush, Hector runs after, and the authorities are in hot pursuit. A backcountry adventure that doubles as a coming of age story, Wilderpeople is the story of two emotionally closed off people learning to open up to one another – their survival depends on it.
Pan’s Labyrinth
Directed by Guillermo del Toro, Pan’s Labyrinth‘s adolescent protagonist will have you realizing that your childhood wasn’t so bad after all. After her mother remarries a literal fascist, ten year old Ofelia is forced to live off in a remote cabin at the end of the Spanish Civil War. Not content to get to know her totalitarian stepdad, Ofelia instead takes rambles in the woods behind the property – stumbling into a mysterious labyrinth in the process. She’s told by an ancient forest spirit that in order to claim her magical birthright, she must complete a series of trials – trials that would have Hercules quaking in his sandals. Nothing says “coming of age” like having to steal an artifact from a child-eating monster. Middle school was bad, but not that bad.
Y Tu Mama También
Directed by Alfonso Cuarón, Y Tu Mama También tells two coming of age stories simultaneously – one of adolescents turning into adults, and another of young adults turning into, well, regular adults. Set in Mexico, the plot follows two teenage boys freshly graduated from high school, who spend one final summer together before going off to college. In order to impress a glamorous older woman they met at a party, the teens tell her that they’re talking a totally mature roadtrip to Boca Del Cielo – a place they just made up. To their surprise, the woman decides to hop in the backseat. Fundamentally about the transience of youth, the film challenges its viewers to cherish the little time we’re allotted in this world. Life is full of moments that will never happen again, might as well seize them.
It
While Stephen King is hailed as the King of Horror, I’d argue that he’s an even better coming of age story author. Adapted from King’s novel of the same name, Andy Muschietti’s It tells the story of the Losers Club – a group of adolescent outcasts growing up in Maine. Their hometown of Derry is cursed with an evil presence, a shapeshifter that returns every 27 years to feed on children – and guess how many years have just passed? Plagued with visions of a killer clown, the kids are forced to fight a battle that adults are incapable of – one centered around the power of magical belief and childhood courage. As a novel, It is a story about hanging on to your inner child like your life depends on it. As the second chapter in its two part film adaption will demonstrate, your life really does depend on it.
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