Wondering which movie to rent this coming weekend? Tired of the same old, same old? Well, as a service to the Bloomsburg community, I’ve scanned my vast vault of DVDs to uncover several sadly overlooked films that share a common theme: the trials and tribulations of young people who are coming of age. No, we’re not talking about Porky’s or American Pie here; we’re talking instead about three films that treat the coming of age theme from refreshingly intelligent, offbeat perspectives.
The topic of the alienated and confused young adult has been a cinema staple for years – from James Deans’ iconic performance in Rebel Without a Cause (1955) to Dustin Hoffman’s generation-defining The Graduate (1967), to this year’s dark horse hit, The Garden State. There have been several fine recent films in this genre, however, that did not make much of a splash at the box office, but which are definitely worth a look. In the three films I’ve chosen you’ll find emotionally satisfying, complex stories about the hardships of being a young adult and how the central characters learn to accept themselves for who they really are.
The first film is Ghost World (2001) which is probably one of the best movies ever adapted from a comic book. Ghost World tells the story of Enid, a confused 18 year old, who has just graduated from high school. Enid doesn’t know what to do with her life and spends most of her time making fun of and mentally torturing people with her best friend Rebecca (Scarlett Johansen). When they zero in on a 40ish oddball loner, Seymour (Steve Buscemi), looking for Miss Right, their friendship begins to dissolve as Enid grows to like and become friends with Seymour. At times funny, sad, and tragic, Ghost World is a great little movie which features a fine lead performance by Thora Birch as the sarcastic Enid who hates the “commercialized, synthetic” world around her (hence the title). Unique character actor Steve Buscemi is also perfect as the music obsessed loner who takes a liking to Enid. From its hilarious beginning to its ambiguous end, Ghost World is a movie which shows what real friendship is all about and wonderfully captures the confusion and aimlessness that many teenagers feel after graduating high school.
The next movie also deals with the friendship between a young and old person. In R
Rushmore (1998), Jason Schwartzman plays Max Fischer, a sophomore at the prestigious prep school Rushmore Academy. While Max is involved in every extracurricular activity imaginable (including the play director and bee hive keeper), his grades have been terrible and so he is expelled from the school. It isn’t long before Max and his unlikely steel tycoon friend, Mr. Blume (Bill Murray) both fall in love with Miss Cross (Olivia Williams), the first grade teacher at Rushmore whom he helps out after school. The rest of the movie concerns Max and Blume trying to get the attention and love of Miss Cross. While Max and Blume look very different on the outside, they are both basically little boys on the inside. Schwartzman is perfect as the smart and cunning Max and Murray gives his best performance as the self-loathing Mr. Blume who likes Max more than his own sons. For those who enjoy smart and well-written comedies that don’t have to resort to bathroom humor to get laughs out of the audience, Rushmore will definitely fit the bill.
The last movie on my list is the least realistic of the three. In fact, if you look for it in a video store this film will probably be filed away in the science fiction section. It’s Donnie Darko (2001), a one of a kind movie and a very promising debut for young writer-director Richard Kelly. The movie takes place during October 1988 and is told from the POV of Donnie (Jake Gyllenhaal), a disturbed high schooler who one night wakes up to find a “reptilian bunny” (no, I’m not kidding) tell him that the world will end in a month. When Donnie wakes up, he finds that during the night a plane has crashed into his house. I won’t reveal any more of the plot but it does involve time travel and leads up to a truly surprising and thought provoking ending. Jake Gyllenhaal gives a creepy performance as the disturbed young man who communicates with giant bunnies. Drew Barrymore, as a hip new teacher and Patrick Swayze, as a smarmy self help guru also stand out in the uniformly excellent cast. For those who enjoy mind-expanding and genre-bending movies, you’ll probably love Donnie Darko!
Well, I hope I’ve persuaded you to check out some of these films: they’re all available on DVD. So the next time you’re looking for a good flicks at the video store, pass by the latest dumb teen comedy and instead check out one of these thought-provoking coming of age movies.
No comments:
Post a Comment