A CHILD'S WORLD ON CELLULOID
by DukeEman | created - 24 May 2011 | updated - 2 months ago | PublicA list of Movies that take you on a journey through the eyes of children and teenagers. I'm sure there are hundreds more out there but these are the films that I have seen and do recommend. In alphabetical order.
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1. 6 Festivals (2022)
95 min | Drama, Music
Maxie, Summer and James share a deep bond and love for music. When James receives a devastating diagnosis, the friends throw themselves into a whirlwind of festivals in an attempt to escape reality.
Director: Macario De Souza | Stars: Rory Potter, Rasmus King, Yasmin Honeychurch, Guyala Bayles
Votes: 136
Worth it for the performing Aussie music artists, with the main story a little clunky but still hits home on an emotional level as three teenagers chase their dreams of attending six music festivals within six months...
2. 15 Amore (1998)
Not Rated | 92 min | Drama, Romance, War
Peace within war. An adult voice narrates a story of childhood during World War II.
Director: Maurice Murphy | Stars: Lisa Hensley, Steve Bastoni, Domenic Galati, Tara Jakszewicz
Votes: 231
The memoirs of a teenager during wartime in Australia.
3. 20th Century Women (2016)
R | 119 min | Comedy, Drama
The story of a teenage boy, his mother, and two other women who help raise him among the love and freedom of Southern California of 1979.
Director: Mike Mills | Stars: Annette Bening, Elle Fanning, Greta Gerwig, Billy Crudup
Votes: 49,405 | Gross: $5.66M
Well thought out characters performed to perfection in this somewhat coming-of-age tale that captures the 1979 era with such intelligence...
4. 22 July (2018)
R | 143 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
A three-part story of Norway's worst terrorist attack in which over seventy people were killed. 22 July looks at the disaster itself, the survivors, Norway's political system and the lawyers who worked on this horrific case.
Director: Paul Greengrass | Stars: Anders Danielsen Lie, Jonas Strand Gravli, Jon Øigarden, Maria Bock
Votes: 37,569
Greengrass takes a step back to show the coldness of the killings and the painful aftermath for the child victims by not being melodramatic or shoving any political ideology down your throat...
5. Adventures in Public School (2017)
TV-14 | 86 min | Comedy, Drama
A socially awkward home-schooled kid forces his way into public-school against his suffocating but loving mother's wishes.
Director: Kyle Rideout | Stars: Judy Greer, Daniel Doheny, Siobhan Williams, Andrew McNee
Votes: 2,170
Nice effort with some interesting and creative direction...
6. Aftersun (II) (2022)
R | 102 min | Drama
Sophie reflects on the shared joy and private melancholy of a holiday she took with her father twenty years earlier. Memories real and imagined fill the gaps between as she tries to reconcile the father she knew with the man she didn't...
Director: Charlotte Wells | Stars: Paul Mescal, Frankie Corio, Celia Rowlson-Hall, Sally Messham
Votes: 93,777
Slowly creeps up on your emotions as you observe a child's fragmented memory of holidaying with her father, and the ending sure does hit you hard...
7. Alex Strangelove (2018)
TV-MA | 99 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Alex, high school class president, nerd and a straight A student, has been dating Claire a long time. They decide to sleep together but then he meets a gay guy and he's confused.
Director: Craig Johnson | Stars: Michael Abela, Daniel Doheny, Brendan Archer, Madeline Weinstein
Votes: 19,542
An intelligent teenage sexual discovery film which at times seems clunky but still engages and amuses...
8. Alice in the Cities (1974)
Not Rated | 113 min | Drama
A German journalist is saddled with a nine-year-old girl after encountering her mother at a New York airport.
Director: Wim Wenders | Stars: Yella Rottländer, Rüdiger Vogler, Lisa Kreuzer, Edda Köchl
Votes: 13,262
For me the interest picked up when the child was introduced after 30 minutes in, and then in a clunky sort of way it produced some wonderful moments, but not enough to sustain its duration...
9. Amy (II) (1997)
PG-13 | 104 min | Drama, Music
Amy is a story of a young girl who witnesses her dad's death on stage at a rock concert. She becomes mentally mute/deaf after this, and 4 years later discovers she can communicate only by singing.
Director: Nadia Tass | Stars: Alana De Roma, Rachel Griffiths, Ben Mendelsohn, Nick Barker
Votes: 821
Communicating to a child through song.
10. Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood (2022)
PG-13 | 97 min | Animation, Adventure, Drama
A coming-of-age story set in the suburbs of Houston, Texas in the summer of 1969, centered around the historic Apollo 11 moon landing.
Director: Richard Linklater | Stars: Milo Coy, Jack Black, Lee Eddy, Bill Wise
Votes: 11,868
Linklater captures perfectly the joys of growing-up in a Houston suburb during the lead up to the Apollo 11 take-off...
11. At Close Range (1986)
R | 111 min | Crime, Drama
Reunited with his career criminal father, tough teen Brad thinks he's found his ticket to an exciting life of crime, only to find out he's wrong.
Director: James Foley | Stars: Sean Penn, Christopher Walken, Mary Stuart Masterson, Chris Penn
Votes: 17,754 | Gross: $2.35M
A drifting teenager gets caught up in the badness of life.
12. Ava (II) (2017)
Not Rated | 105 min | Drama, Romance
13-year-old Ava learns that she will lose her sight sooner than expected, and she confronts the problem in her own way.
Director: Léa Mysius | Stars: Noée Abita, Laure Calamy, Juan Cano, Tamara Cano
Votes: 3,320
A well crafted look into the life of a young teenager as she enters puberty while her eyesight begins to deteriorate towards blindness...
13. A Bag of Marbles (2017)
Not Rated | 110 min | Biography, Drama, History
In occupied France, Maurice and Joseph, two young Jewish brothers left to their own devices demonstrate an incredible amount of cleverness, courage, and ingenuity to escape the enemy invasion and to try to reunite their family once again.
Director: Christian Duguay | Stars: Dorian Le Clech, Batyste Fleurial, Patrick Bruel, Elsa Zylberstein
Votes: 6,395 | Gross: $0.41M
Could have been darker for greater emotional depth, but still effective enough...
14. Beasts of No Nation (2015)
TV-MA | 137 min | Drama, War
A drama based on the experiences of Agu, a child soldier fighting in the civil war of an unnamed African country.
Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga | Stars: Abraham Attah, Emmanuel Affadzi, Ricky Adelayitor, Andrew Adote
Votes: 86,854 | Gross: $0.08M
Brutal, unflinching, harrowing, powerful...
15. Belfast (2021)
PG-13 | 98 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
A young boy and his working-class Belfast family experience the tumultuous late 1960s.
Director: Kenneth Branagh | Stars: Jude Hill, Lewis McAskie, Caitríona Balfe, Jamie Dornan
Votes: 92,444
Branagh weaves a humorous and heartfelt semi-autobiographical story about growing up in Belfast during the '69 upheaval - filled with family love and heartbreak, religious political division, and the joys of Hollywood movies...
16. Beneath Clouds (2002)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama, Romance
Lena is the daughter of an Aboriginal mother and Irish father and Vaughn is a Murri boy doing time in a minimum security prison in North West NSW. Dramatic events throw them together on a journey with no money and no transport.
Director: Ivan Sen | Stars: Dannielle Hall, Damian Pitt, Jenna Lee Connors, Terry Dahlstron
Votes: 1,189
Two teenagers hit the road in remote Australia.
17. Bend It Like Beckham (2002)
PG-13 | 112 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Two ambitious girls, despite their parents' wishes, have their hearts set on careers in professional football.
Director: Gurinder Chadha | Stars: Parminder Nagra, Keira Knightley, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Anupam Kher
Votes: 116,511 | Gross: $32.54M
A little treat.
18. The Best Things in the World (2010)
100 min | Comedy, Drama
Mano has to deal with adolescence dilemmas and his family destruction, after his father leaves their house.
Director: Laís Bodanzky | Stars: Francisco Miguez, Denise Fraga, Fiuk, Zécarlos Machado
Votes: 1,659
Growing up in modern day Brazil...
19. Birthmarked (2018)
90 min | Comedy
Two scientists raise 3 children contrarily to their genetic tendencies to prove the ultimate power of nurture over nature.
Director: Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais | Stars: Matthew Goode, Toni Collette, Andreas Apergis, Jordan Poole
Votes: 3,651
Adored the zany characters thanks to the tremendous performances in this little quirky sleeper even if it sometimes didn't fulfill the fascinating idea it had to offer...
20. Bizarre (2015)
Unrated | 98 min | Drama, Romance
A French teenager gets a job at the burlesque club Bizarre in New York.
Director: Étienne Faure | Stars: Pierre Prieur, Adrian James, Raquel Nave, Rebekah Underhill
Votes: 1,306
The outrageous acts at Bar Bizarre is worth the watch, and the story of mysterious French boy has some merit as well...
21. The Black Stallion (1979)
G | 118 min | Adventure, Family, Sport
After being shipwrecked with a magnificent horse off the coast of Africa in the 1940s, a boy bonds with the stallion, and trains him to race after their rescue.
Director: Carroll Ballard | Stars: Kelly Reno, Mickey Rooney, Teri Garr, Clarence Muse
Votes: 14,043
A masterpiece about a boy and a beast.
22. Bogus (1996)
PG | 110 min | Comedy, Family, Fantasy
Recently orphaned, a young boy is taken in by his godmother who is shocked to realize that she can see the boy's imaginary friend: a flamboyant, French magician named Bogus.
Director: Norman Jewison | Stars: Whoopi Goldberg, Gérard Depardieu, Haley Joel Osment, Andrea Martin
Votes: 7,044 | Gross: $4.36M
creating a make-believe world to get through the tough times.
23. Skyggen i mit øje (2021)
TV-MA | 107 min | Drama, History, War
The fates of several Copenhagen residents collide when a WWII bombing mission accidentally targets a school full of children.
Director: Ole Bornedal | Stars: Bertram Bisgaard Enevoldsen, Ester Birch, Ella Josephine Lund Nilsson, Malena Lucia Lodahl
Votes: 16,659
Another harrowing chapter in men's stupidity of wars, and this one from WWII in Copenhagen, Denmark, where the British air force screw-up big time and destroy a school with children present. An emotional cinematic depiction of this heart wrenching incident...
24. The Book Thief (2013)
PG-13 | 131 min | Drama, War
While subjected to the horrors of World War II Germany, young Liesel finds solace by stealing books and sharing them with others. In the basement of her home, a Jewish refugee is being protected by her adoptive parents.
Director: Brian Percival | Stars: Sophie Nélisse, Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson, Ben Schnetzer
Votes: 142,323 | Gross: $21.49M
Growing up in War time Nazi can be a little problematic...
25. The Boy from Mercury (1996)
87 min | Drama, Family
Harry is an eight-year-old boy growing up in Ireland with his dis-spirited widowed mother May and older brother Paul. He is bullied in school, and his only real friend is his dog Max. His ... See full summary »
Director: Martin Duffy | Stars: Rita Tushingham, Tom Courtenay, Hugh O'Conor, James Hickey
Votes: 109
Irish boy Cronin and his fantasy world.
26. Boyhood (I) (2014)
R | 165 min | Drama
The life of Mason, from early childhood to his arrival at college.
Director: Richard Linklater | Stars: Ellar Coltrane, Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke, Elijah Smith
Votes: 367,214 | Gross: $25.38M
Growing up on film the Linklater way...
27. The Breakfast Club (1985)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Drama
Five high school students meet in Saturday detention and discover how they have a great deal more in common than they thought.
Director: John Hughes | Stars: Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy
Votes: 436,683 | Gross: $45.88M
John Hughes' teenage masterpiece.
28. The Breadwinner (2017)
PG-13 | 94 min | Animation, Drama, Family
In 2001, Afghanistan is under the control of the Taliban. When her father is captured, a determined young girl disguises herself as a boy in order to provide for her family.
Director: Nora Twomey | Stars: Saara Chaudry, Soma Chhaya, Noorin Gulamgaus, Laara Sadiq
Votes: 28,234 | Gross: $0.31M
You get so involved in the emotional plight of the protagonist that you forget that it is an animation with real depth...
29. Breath (I) (2017)
TV-MA | 115 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
After developing an interest in surfing, a teenage boy and his friend forge an unlikely friendship with an older surfer.
Director: Simon Baker | Stars: Samson Coulter, Ben Spence, Simon Baker, Elizabeth Debicki
Votes: 3,863 | Gross: $0.04M
Simon Baker captures the pure essence of the novelist, Tim Winton, in this very Australiana tale on a coastal town about teenage growing pains and a zest for surfing...
30. Brighton Beach Memoirs (1986)
PG-13 | 108 min | Comedy
Eugene, a young teenage Jewish boy, recalls his memoirs of his time as an adolescent youth. He goes through the hardships of puberty, sexual fantasy, and living the life of a poor boy in a crowded house.
Director: Gene Saks | Stars: Blythe Danner, Jonathan Silverman, Stacey Glick, Lisa Waltz
Votes: 3,864 | Gross: $11.96M
Growing up pains can be fun when watching someone else.
31. A Bronx Tale (1993)
R | 121 min | Crime, Drama
An intense drama about a boy torn between his tough, hard-working father and a violent yet charismatic crime boss.
Director: Robert De Niro | Stars: Robert De Niro, Chazz Palminteri, Lillo Brancato, Francis Capra
Votes: 161,200 | Gross: $17.27M
Even de Niro & Palminteri know what it is like to be a child in a rough neighbourhood.
32. The Children of Huang Shi (2008)
R | 125 min | Drama, War
About young British journalist, George Hogg, who with the assistance of a courageous Australian nurse, saves a group of orphaned children during the Japanese occupation of China in 1937.
Director: Roger Spottiswoode | Stars: Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Radha Mitchell, Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh
Votes: 9,985 | Gross: $1.03M
Innocence caught up in human brutality of war...
33. The Butcher Boy (1997)
R | 110 min | Comedy, Drama
The antisocial son of an alcoholic father and a bipolar mother grows up in 1960s Ireland.
Director: Neil Jordan | Stars: Stephen Rea, Fiona Shaw, Eamonn Owens, Alan Boyle
Votes: 11,471 | Gross: $1.82M
A disturbing look of a child's mental illness.
34. Le café du pont (2010)
95 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
Ten-year-old Pierrot is just another kid. For the time being, he grows with his younger brother Jeannot in a flat above "Le Café du Pont", run by his loving parents, a place that attracts ... See full summary »
Director: Manuel Poirier | Stars: Bernard Campan, Cécile Rebboah, Thomas Durastel, Julien Demarty
Votes: 122
Growing up in a provisional French town under the Nazi thumb...
35. Call Me by Your Name (2017)
R | 132 min | Drama, Romance
In 1980s Italy, romance blossoms between a seventeen-year-old student and the older man hired as his father's research assistant.
Director: Luca Guadagnino | Stars: Timothée Chalamet, Armie Hammer, Michael Stuhlbarg, Amira Casar
Votes: 315,980 | Gross: $18.10M
Sensual in its depiction of inhibited love and the understanding of a youthful awakening, with heartfelt performances to see it through...
36. The Children of Times Square (1986 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 94 min | Crime, Drama
An alienated teenage boy runs away from home and ventures to New York City where he falls in with a gang of juvenile delinquents working as drug dealers and pickpockets for a shady crime boss.
Director: Curtis Hanson | Stars: Howard E. Rollins Jr., Joanna Cassidy, David Ackroyd, Larry B. Scott
Votes: 426
Worth a look because of Curtis Hanson at the helm.
37. Candy Jar (2018)
TV-14 | 92 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Dueling high school debate champs who are at odds on just about everything forge ahead with ambitious plans to get into the colleges of their dreams.
Director: Ben Shelton | Stars: Jacob Latimore, Sami Gayle, Tom Bergeron, Helen Hunt
Votes: 5,577
The second half was an improvement when the tone changed and the characters became less caricature and more rounded...
38. China Girl (1987)
R | 90 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A modern day Romeo & Juliet story is told in New York when an Italian boy and a Chinese girl become lovers, causing a tragic conflict between ethnic gangs.
Director: Abel Ferrara | Stars: James Russo, Richard Panebianco, Sari Chang, David Caruso
Votes: 2,335 | Gross: $1.26M
Early Ferrara looks at teenage love with two clashing cultures.
39. Cinema Paradiso (1988)
R | 174 min | Drama, Romance
A filmmaker recalls his childhood when falling in love with the pictures at the cinema of his home village and forms a deep friendship with the cinema's projectionist.
Director: Giuseppe Tornatore | Stars: Philippe Noiret, Enzo Cannavale, Antonella Attili, Isa Danieli
Votes: 283,011 | Gross: $11.99M
The world of a small Italian town cinema through the eyes of a mischievous child.
40. Chocolat (1988)
PG-13 | 105 min | Drama
A French woman returns to her childhood home in Cameroon - formerly a colonial outpost - where she's flooded by memories, particularly of Protée, her servant.
Director: Claire Denis | Stars: Isaach De Bankolé, Giulia Boschi, François Cluzet, Jean-Claude Adelin
Votes: 4,478 | Gross: $2.32M
Life of a French child in the West African colony.
41. The Cider House Rules (1999)
PG-13 | 126 min | Drama, Romance
A compassionate young man, raised in an orphanage and trained to be a doctor there, decides to leave to see the world.
Director: Lasse Hallström | Stars: Tobey Maguire, Charlize Theron, Michael Caine, Delroy Lindo
Votes: 104,823 | Gross: $57.55M
Lasse does it again, this time with Toby.
42. Class Trip (1998)
96 min | Drama, Mystery
A schoolboy Nicholas always worries about something. When he goes on a school skiing trip, all his visions and nightmares take him over.
Director: Claude Miller | Stars: Clément van den Bergh, Emmanuelle Bercot, Yves Verhoeven, Lokman Nalcakan
Votes: 1,588
A sinister twist in this coming-of-age film.
43. Close (I) (2022)
PG-13 | 104 min | Drama
The intense friendship between two thirteen-year old boys Leo and Remi suddenly gets disrupted. Struggling to understand what has happened, Léo approaches Sophie, Rémi's mother. "Close" is a film about friendship and responsibility.
Director: Lukas Dhont | Stars: Eden Dambrine, Gustav De Waele, Émilie Dequenne, Léa Drucker
Votes: 34,834
Powerful observation on adolescent awakening and the ramifications of social pressure to go against one's desire and destroy that inner-being with gut wrenching consequences, aided by performances that will leave you spellbound and captured perfectly by the filmmakers…
44. C'mon C'mon (2021)
R | 109 min | Drama
When his sister asks him to look after her son, a radio journalist embarks on a cross-country trip with his energetic nephew to show him life away from Los Angeles.
Director: Mike Mills | Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Gaby Hoffmann, Woody Norman, Scoot McNairy
Votes: 38,923
Magic occurs when there is the perfect ingredient of cast and story, and they got the child actor right...
45. Come and See (1985)
Not Rated | 142 min | Drama, Thriller, War
After finding an old rifle, a young boy joins the Soviet resistance movement against ruthless German forces and experiences the horrors of World War II.
Director: Elem Klimov | Stars: Aleksey Kravchenko, Olga Mironova, Liubomiras Laucevicius, Vladas Bagdonas
Votes: 97,319
A child's world can sometimes be ugly.
46. Flight of the Innocent (1992)
R | 105 min | Adventure, Crime, Drama
The boy Vito is a portrait of beauty and wide-eyed innocence spawned from a violent family of kidnapers and murderers in the South of Italy. When his entire family is murdered by a rival ... See full summary »
Director: Carlo Carlei | Stars: Manuel Colao, Federico Pacifici, Sal Borgese, Lucio Zagaria
Votes: 559 | Gross: $0.05M
A young boy on the run from the mafia.
47. The Cowboys (1972)
GP | 134 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
Rancher Wil Andersen is forced to hire inexperienced boys as cowhands in order to get his herd to market on time but the rough drive is full of dangers and a gang of cattle rustlers is trailing them.
Director: Mark Rydell | Stars: John Wayne, Roscoe Lee Browne, Bruce Dern, Colleen Dewhurst
Votes: 15,863 | Gross: $16.35M
John Wayne teachers these young boys how to be cowboys.
48. Daddy, I Don't Like It Like This (1978 TV Movie)
100 min | Drama
A father tries to toughen his son by paying the neighborhood bullies to beat him up. The title comes from the lad's cry during one of the staged bouts.
Director: Adell Aldrich | Stars: Jamie Aff, Clinton Allmon, Matthew Anton, Raymond J. Barry
Votes: 83
A child's tormented life.
49. The Runner (1984)
Not Rated | 94 min | Drama
After enrolling in a school, an impoverished boy finds conflict with his classmates and decides to compete to earn their respect.
Director: Amir Naderi | Stars: Madjid Niroumand, Abbas Nazeri, Musa Torkizadeh
Votes: 2,340
The life of an Iranian street kid.
50. Days of Heaven (1978)
PG | 94 min | Drama, Romance
A hot-tempered farm laborer convinces the woman he loves to marry their rich but dying boss so that they can have a claim to his fortune.
Director: Terrence Malick | Stars: Richard Gere, Brooke Adams, Sam Shepard, Linda Manz
Votes: 62,772
Malick's masterpiece as told by a child.
51. Death Note (I) (2017)
TV-MA | 101 min | Crime, Drama, Fantasy
A high school student named Light Turner discovers a mysterious notebook that has the power to kill anyone whose name is written within its pages, and launches a secret crusade to rid the world of criminals.
Director: Adam Wingard | Stars: Nat Wolff, LaKeith Stanfield, Margaret Qualley, Shea Whigham
Votes: 90,490
Not being an Anime fan is an advantage to watching this slick teenage horror fantasy film that reminded me of my viewing pleasures of 1980s shlock...
52. Dazed and Confused (1993)
R | 103 min | Comedy
The adventures of high school and junior high students on the last day of school in May 1976.
Director: Richard Linklater | Stars: Jason London, Wiley Wiggins, Matthew McConaughey, Rory Cochrane
Votes: 199,651 | Gross: $7.99M
The classic of all stoner films.
53. Dear Ex (2018)
TV-MA | 100 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A teenage boy and his mother are further driven apart when they find out that his father's life insurance policy is to be received by his lover.
Directors: Chih-Yen Hsu, Mag Hsu | Stars: Roy Chiu, Ying-Hsuan Hsieh, Spark Chen, Joseph Huang
Votes: 7,398
Creative structure, but the story itself was a little weak and clumsy, but effective enough to keep your interest...
54. Deep End (1970)
R | 88 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
15-year-old dropout Mike takes a job at Newford Baths, where inappropriate sexual behaviour abounds, and becomes obsessed with his coworker Susan.
Director: Jerzy Skolimowski | Stars: Jane Asher, John Moulder-Brown, Karl Michael Vogler, Christopher Sandford
Votes: 7,503
The tragedy of love and obsession by a 15-year-old boy who enters the seedy lie of an Adult's world.
55. Den store badedag (1991)
100 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
Copenhagen 1930. Through the eyes of a boy, his family and the outside world is depicted. A well knit, working class family. The boy has great expectations on his father. This leads to the involuntary unmasking of the father.
Director: Stellan Olsson | Stars: Erik Clausen, Nina Gunke, Benjamin Rothenborg Vibe, Jesper Klein
Votes: 711
Growing up in early Denmark.
56. Desert Bloom (1986)
PG | 105 min | Drama, Family, Romance
The story involves Rose Chismore's youth. She flashes back and remembers her coming-of-age. Her recollections are sometimes less than sweet, particularly those of her troubled and alcoholic... See full summary »
Director: Eugene Corr | Stars: Jon Voight, JoBeth Williams, Annabeth Gish, Ellen Barkin
Votes: 1,098 | Gross: $0.42M
Growing up in 1951 while the A-bomb is being tested in your backyard. A gem.
57. The Devil's Playground (1976)
107 min | Drama
Fred Schepisi's first feature is this lushly photographed period drama detailing a young boy's coming-of-age in a strict Catholic seminary in 1950s Australia.
Director: Fred Schepisi | Stars: Charles McCallum, John Frawley, Arthur Dignam, Nick Tate
Votes: 1,313
Australian classic set in a boarding school.
58. Dichiarazioni d'amore (1994)
91 min | Biography, Drama
Bologna in Italy, 1948. A period in the life of some 15 year-old youths who attend the same school and live in the same neighbourhood. Dado, a very shy boy, is one of them. Through his eyes... See full summary »
Director: Pupi Avati | Stars: Antonella Attili, Paola Bacchetti, Angiola Baggi, Delia Boccardo
Votes: 77
Pupi Avati's takes us through the eyes of a teenager during post-war italy.
59. Muddy River (1981)
105 min | Drama
In post-War Japan, a boy from a noodle store-owning family befriends a neighboring boy living in poverty.
Director: Kôhei Oguri | Stars: Takahiro Tamura, Mariko Kaga, Nobutaka Asahara, Makiko Shibata
Votes: 1,036
A boy's own story, Japanese style.
60. Earth (1998)
Not Rated | 110 min | Drama, Romance, War
It's 1947 and the borderlines between India and Pakistan are being drawn. A young girl witnesses tragedy as her ayah (nanny) is caught between the love of two men and the rising tide of political and religious violence.
Director: Deepa Mehta | Stars: Aamir Khan, Nandita Das, Rahul Khanna, Maia Sethna
Votes: 8,113 | Gross: $0.53M
Lenny takes us through 1947 India.
61. The Elementary School (1991)
100 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
The time is 1945-46. 10 year old Eda and his friend Tonda live in a small village outside Prague. In school, their class is so wild and indisciplined that their teacher quits and is ... See full summary »
Director: Jan Sverák | Stars: Jan Tríska, Zdenek Sverák, Libuse Safránková, Rudolf Hrusínský
Votes: 3,235
Jan Sverak's delightful view of a small town boy's cheeky life.
62. Every Day (2018)
PG-13 | 97 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
A shy teenager falls for a spirit who wakes up in the body of a different person every morning.
Director: Michael Sucsy | Stars: Angourie Rice, Justice Smith, Debby Ryan, Jeni Ross
Votes: 23,629 | Gross: $6.10M
One of those movies with an interesting idea, and perfect for the teenage fantasy...
63. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011)
PG-13 | 129 min | Adventure, Drama, Mystery
A nine-year-old amateur inventor, Francophile, and pacifist searches New York City for the lock that matches a mysterious key left behind by his father, who died in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
Director: Stephen Daldry | Stars: Thomas Horn, Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock, Max von Sydow
Votes: 105,181 | Gross: $31.85M
A haunting ride in a child's mind after a traumatic experience.
64. The Fabelmans (2022)
PG-13 | 151 min | Drama
Growing up in post-World War II era Arizona, young Sammy Fabelman aspires to become a filmmaker as he reaches adolescence, but soon discovers a shattering family secret and explores how the power of films can help him see the truth.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Michelle Williams, Gabriel LaBelle, Paul Dano, Judd Hirsch
Votes: 116,959
The perfect subject for that Spielberg touch of storytelling...
65. Fanny and Alexander (1982)
R | 188 min | Drama
Two young Swedish children in the 1900s experience the many comedies and tragedies of their lively and affectionate theatrical family, the Ekdahls.
Director: Ingmar Bergman | Stars: Bertil Guve, Pernilla Allwin, Kristina Adolphson, Börje Ahlstedt
Votes: 67,510 | Gross: $4.97M
Bergman's contribution to the child's world.
66. First They Killed My Father (2017)
TV-MA | 136 min | Biography, Drama, History
Cambodian author and human rights activist Loung Ung recounts the horrors she suffered as a child under the rule of the deadly Khmer Rouge.
Director: Angelina Jolie | Stars: Sareum Srey Moch, Phoeung Kompheak, Sveng Socheata, Mun Kimhak
Votes: 20,443
Angelina Jolie's perfect direction gets into the mind-set of a child's journey through a war ravaged country...
67. The Floating Lives (2010)
105 min | Drama, Romance
The film portrays the life of a family separated from the mainstream of modern society, yet containing within its microcosm the complex layers and dramas of human relationship: conjugal ... See full summary »
Director: Phan Quang Binh Nguyen | Stars: Tang Thanh Ha, Do Thi Hai Yen, Ninh Duong Lan Ngoc, Dustin Nguyen
Votes: 398
Has its moments but still interesting look of growing up the hard way on the rivers of Vietnam...
68. The Florida Project (2017)
R | 111 min | Drama
Set over one summer, the film follows precocious six-year-old Moonee as she courts mischief and adventure with her ragtag playmates and bonds with her rebellious but caring mother, all while living in the shadows of Walt Disney World.
Director: Sean Baker | Stars: Brooklynn Prince, Bria Vinaite, Willem Dafoe, Christopher Rivera
Votes: 128,448 | Gross: $5.90M
Annoying brats at first but you then have to force yourself to be an objective observer and soon understand the circumstances and conditions. The children are marvelous...
69. Forbidden Games (1952)
Not Rated | 86 min | Comedy, Drama, War
A young French girl orphaned in a German air attack is befriended by the son of a poor farmer, and together they try to come to terms with the realities of death.
Director: René Clément | Stars: Georges Poujouly, Brigitte Fossey, Amédée, Laurence Badie
Votes: 13,108 | Gross: $0.01M
Powerful. Worth watching.
70. Fat Girl (2001)
Not Rated | 86 min | Drama
Two sisters confront their sexual attitudes and experiences while on a family holiday.
Director: Catherine Breillat | Stars: Anaïs Reboux, Roxane Mesquida, Libero De Rienzo, Arsinée Khanjian
Votes: 12,823 | Gross: $0.72M
A child's life can sometimes be ugly.
71. The 400 Blows (1959)
Not Rated | 99 min | Crime, Drama
A young boy, left without attention, delves into a life of petty crime.
Director: François Truffaut | Stars: Jean-Pierre Léaud, Albert Rémy, Claire Maurier, Guy Decomble
Votes: 128,097
Truffaut's classic.
72. Foxes (1980)
R | 106 min | Drama
A group of four teenage girls come of age in the asphalt desert of Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley arranged with a blazing soundtrack and endless drinking, drugs and sex.
Director: Adrian Lyne | Stars: Jodie Foster, Cherie Currie, Marilyn Kagan, Kandice Stroh
Votes: 5,024
A hidden gem.
73. Show Me Love (1998)
Not Rated | 89 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Two teenage girls in small-town Sweden. Elin is beautiful, popular, and bored with life. Agnes is friendless, sad, and secretly in love with Elin.
Director: Lukas Moodysson | Stars: Alexandra Dahlström, Rebecka Liljeberg, Erica Carlson, Mathias Rust
Votes: 55,409 | Gross: $0.17M
Bored teenagers in downtown Amal.
74. Podarok Stalinu (2008)
97 min | Drama
A Jewish child deported to Kazakhstan is saved and adopted by Kasym, an old Kazakh railway-man. Kasym gives him a Kazakh name, Sabyr, that in Kazakh language means humble. The child grows ... See full summary »
Director: Rustem Abdrashev | Stars: Nurzhuman Ikhtymbaev, Bakhtiar Khoja, Yekaterina Rednikova, Dalen Shintemirov
Votes: 285
Very touching...
75. The Glass Castle (2017)
PG-13 | 127 min | Biography, Drama
A young girl comes of age in a dysfunctional family of nonconformist nomads with a mother who's an eccentric artist and an alcoholic father who would stir the children's imagination with hope as a distraction to their poverty.
Director: Destin Daniel Cretton | Stars: Brie Larson, Woody Harrelson, Naomi Watts, Ella Anderson
Votes: 38,572 | Gross: $17.27M
Life in turmoil with eccentric poor parents and their ideology that destroys but strengthens their children...
76. Glue (2006)
Unrated | 110 min | Drama, Romance
Aimless and uncertain, a group of teenagers go through an intense coming-of-age experience in their small desert town.
Director: Alexis Dos Santos | Stars: Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Nahuel Viale, Inés Efron, Verónica Llinás
Votes: 1,589
Summer life of a teenage boy on a quest to conquer boredom by discovering his sexuality, and most importantly getting off on Violent Femmes...
77. The Go-Between (1971)
GP | 116 min | Drama, Romance
A tale of torrid and forbidden love between a couple in the English countryside.
Director: Joseph Losey | Stars: Julie Christie, Alan Bates, Dominic Guard, Margaret Leighton
Votes: 6,305 | Gross: $0.75M
The lovers messenger.
78. The Grand Highway (1987)
R | 104 min | Drama
Louis, a nine-year-old boy from Paris, spends his summer vacation in a small town in Brittany. His mother Claire has lodged him with her girlfriend Marcelle and her husband Pelo while she's... See full summary »
Director: Jean-Loup Hubert | Stars: Anémone, Richard Bohringer, Antoine Hubert, Vanessa Guedj
Votes: 1,769 | Gross: $0.76M
Growing up French style.
79. Gregory's Girl (1980)
PG | 91 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Gregory is a normal teen who is infatuated with a classmate. He must work to win her affection.
Director: Bill Forsyth | Stars: John Gordon Sinclair, Dee Hepburn, Jake D'Arcy, Clare Grogan
Votes: 9,449
Early Forsyth gem.
80. Gummo (1997)
R | 89 min | Comedy, Drama
Lonely residents of a tornado-stricken Ohio town wander the deserted landscape trying to fulfill their boring, nihilistic lives.
Director: Harmony Korine | Stars: Nick Sutton, Jacob Sewell, Lara Tosh, Jacob Reynolds
Votes: 38,259 | Gross: $0.02M
Boredom of teenage life in a wasted landscape.
81. Au hasard Balthazar (1966)
Not Rated | 95 min | Drama
The story of a mistreated donkey and the people around him. A study on saintliness and a sister piece to Bresson's Mouchette.
Director: Robert Bresson | Stars: Anne Wiazemsky, Walter Green, François Lafarge, Jean-Claude Guilbert
Votes: 22,834 | Gross: $0.04M
Bressen's masterpiece about a girl and a donkey (and don't get any funny ideas).
82. Heavenly Creatures (1994)
R | 99 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Two teenage girls share a unique bond; their parents, concerned that the friendship is too intense, separate them, and the girls take revenge.
Director: Peter Jackson | Stars: Melanie Lynskey, Kate Winslet, Sarah Peirse, Diana Kent
Votes: 67,421 | Gross: $3.05M
Two wicked school girls and the world they create.
83. Holidays on the River Yarra (1991)
88 min | Drama
Two teenagers get entangled in a criminal coup enterprise but must raise $500 each in order to set sail for Africa.
Director: Leo Berkeley | Stars: Craig Adams, Luke Elliot, Alex Menglet, Tahir Cambis
Votes: 57
Teenagers led astray.
84. Honor Society (2022)
TV-MA | 98 min | Comedy, Romance
Honor's sole focus is getting into Harvard. Willing to do whatever it takes, Honor concocts a plan to take down her top three competitors, until things take a turn when she unexpectedly falls for her biggest competition.
Director: Oran Zegman | Stars: Angourie Rice, Gaten Matarazzo, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Armani Jackson
Votes: 9,706
Just hang in there because you will be rewarded once you pass all the senior school cliches in the first half of the movie, with the second half delivering wonderful surprises and well developed characters...
85. Hope and Glory (1987)
PG-13 | 113 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Bill, a young boy living on the outskirts of London experiences the exhilaration of World War II. During this period, Bill learns about sex, death, love, hypocrisy, and the faults of adults as he prowls the ruins of bombed houses.
Director: John Boorman | Stars: Sarah Miles, David Hayman, Sebastian Rice-Edwards, Geraldine Muir
Votes: 14,602 | Gross: $10.02M
Childhood memories of a war...
86. The Ice Storm (1997)
R | 112 min | Drama
In suburban New Canaan, Connecticut, 1973, middle-class families experimenting with casual sex and substance abuse find their lives beyond their control.
Director: Ang Lee | Stars: Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Henry Czerny
Votes: 59,978 | Gross: $7.84M
Living in the Seventies.
87. I Kill Giants (2017)
Not Rated | 106 min | Drama, Fantasy, Thriller
Barbara Thorson struggles through life by escaping into a fantasy life of magic and monsters.
Director: Anders Walter | Stars: Madison Wolfe, Zoe Saldana, Imogen Poots, Sydney Wade
Votes: 33,008
After a false start it settles into what it's really all about with a fascinating angle on a teenager dealing with the harsh reality by creating a dark fantasy world...
88. The Innocents (1961)
Not Rated | 100 min | Horror
A young governess for two children becomes convinced that the house and grounds are haunted.
Director: Jack Clayton | Stars: Deborah Kerr, Peter Wyngarde, Megs Jenkins, Michael Redgrave
Votes: 33,073 | Gross: $2.62M
Strange children in a strange house.
89. In the Belly of the Whale (1985)
97 min | Comedy
After an argument with her father, 15-year-old Carla starts looking for her mother, who left them years ago, accompanied by a young musician.
Director: Doris Dörrie | Stars: Janna Marangosoff, Eisi Gulp, Peter Sattmann, Silvia Reize
Votes: 44
Juvenile crises handled with maturity.
90. It (I) (2017)
R | 135 min | Fantasy, Horror
In the summer of 1989, a group of bullied kids band together to destroy a shape-shifting monster, which disguises itself as a clown and preys on the children of Derry, their small Maine town.
Director: Andy Muschietti | Stars: Bill Skarsgård, Jaeden Martell, Finn Wolfhard, Sophia Lillis
Votes: 606,461 | Gross: $327.48M
It deals with some serious topics amongst all the silly scare...
91. I Used to Be Famous (2022)
TV-14 | 104 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
Follows Vince, a desperate former popstar who dreams of making a comeback. An impromptu jam session with autistic young drummer Stevie sparks an unexpected friendship between the two misunderstood musicians.
Director: Eddie Sternberg | Stars: Ed Skrein, Eleanor Matsuura, Leo Long, Eoin Macken
Votes: 11,055
One of those films where the concept and characters (thanks to the performances) have so much to offer, and it draws you in but still left unfulfilling...
92. Ivan's Childhood (1962)
Not Rated | 95 min | Drama, War
During WWII, Soviet orphan Ivan Bondarev strikes up a friendship with three sympathetic Soviet officers while working as a scout behind the German lines.
Directors: Andrei Tarkovsky, Eduard Abalov | Stars: Nikolay Burlyaev, Valentin Zubkov, Evgeniy Zharikov, Stepan Krylov
Votes: 39,946
Tarkovsky shows the scars of war through the life of a 12 year-old Russian boy.
93. I Was Born, But... (1932)
Not Rated | 90 min | Comedy, Drama
Two young brothers throw a tantrum when they discover that their father isn't the most important man in his workplace.
Director: Yasujirô Ozu | Stars: Tatsuo Saitô, Tomio Aoki, Mitsuko Yoshikawa, Hideo Sugawara
Votes: 6,214
Early classic light-weight Ozu...
94. Jack (1996)
PG-13 | 113 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Because of an unusual disorder that has aged him four times faster than a typical human being, a boy looks like a 40-year-old man as he starts fifth grade at public school after being homeschooled.
Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: Robin Williams, Diane Lane, Brian Kerwin, Jennifer Lopez
Votes: 63,826 | Gross: $58.62M
I know he's big, but inside he is just a small child.
95. Kamchatka (2002)
106 min | Drama
The film is seen through the eyes of a ten-year-old boy, Harry (Matías del Pozo), who does not know that Argentina's 1976 coup d'état is impacting his life. After witnessing the "... See full summary »
Director: Marcelo Piñeyro | Stars: Ricardo Darín, Cecilia Roth, Héctor Alterio, Fernanda Mistral
Votes: 3,715
The young ones caught up in their parents political turmoil during the dark military rein over Argentina is intriguing...
96. Kes (1969)
PG-13 | 111 min | Drama, Family
A working-class English boy spends his free time caring for and training his pet kestrel.
Director: Ken Loach | Stars: David Bradley, Brian Glover, Freddie Fletcher, Lynne Perrie
Votes: 22,947
Loach's early classic.
97. Kids (1995)
Unrated | 91 min | Drama
A day in the life of a group of teens as they travel around New York City skating, drinking, smoking and deflowering virgins.
Director: Larry Clark | Stars: Leo Fitzpatrick, Justin Pierce, Chloë Sevigny, Sarah Henderson
Votes: 84,669 | Gross: $7.42M
Larry Clark, the most controversial figure to tackle teenage angst.
98. The Kid with a Bike (2011)
PG-13 | 87 min | Drama
Abandoned by his father, a young boy is left in a state-run youth farm. In a random act of kindness, the town hairdresser agrees to foster him on weekends.
Directors: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne | Stars: Thomas Doret, Cécile de France, Jérémie Renier, Fabrizio Rongione
Votes: 28,645 | Gross: $1.38M
How to tame a wild one.
99. King of the Hill (1993)
PG-13 | 103 min | Drama, History
A young boy struggles on his own in a run-down hotel after his parents and younger brother are separated from him in 1930s Depression-era Midwest.
Director: Steven Soderbergh | Stars: Jesse Bradford, Jeroen Krabbé, Lisa Eichhorn, Karen Allen
Votes: 8,829 | Gross: $1.30M
Soderbergh's underrated gem.
100. The Kissing Booth (2018)
TV-14 | 105 min | Comedy, Romance
A high school student is forced to confront her secret crush at a kissing booth.
Director: Vince Marcello | Stars: Joey King, Jacob Elordi, Joel Courtney, Megan du Plessis
Votes: 93,519
Being a big John Hughes fan is an advantage for an old dude like myself in order to appreciate this goofy comedy romance that reminded me of my Eighties viewing pleasures of teenage angst and awkwardness...
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