Upcoming reviews (during july/beginning of august):

1. Country Teacher

- A very new Czech film about a middle aged teacher who is going to the countryside to work in the local school, at the same time struggling with his own acceptance of his homosexuality and with his falling in love with a teenage boy. A very rare and good film!

2. Nachttocht

-A Dutch coming-of-age story about a boy who is falling in love with his sports/canoe-teacher, who in turn is falling in love with the boy´s mom. A very nicely done and rare triangle drama about love and friendship. Similar to “Country teacher”, though with totally different twists and also much older (but equally good!).

3. Gutta boys

- A Norwegian TV-series about a group of boys in a coming-of-age drama.

4. Russian film (rare)

- A rare film (so rare I have forgotten the title but will of course update you with that information later), about a boy who is struggling to survive a hazardous boat trip.

5. My uncle Antoine

- Considered to be the best Canadian coming-of-age film, and is about the developing consciousness of a young boy as he learns to deal with both sexuality and death.

6. Malena

- An Italian coming-of-age-story about a young boy who encounters the beautiful Malena, the dream of all men. Said to be an intense and very interesting film.

7. City of Men

- A Brazilian TV-series about kids in the slum of Rio de Janeiro.

8. Captain Abu Raed

-A new film, not yet released in my country, about an older man finding a new task in life and becoming a sort of father figure to a group of boys/children. Seems interesting on the trailer, more info will come later.

Hornets nest, 1970

How about a review of a US Hollywood production? Well, this flick from 1970 represents an era in which there were a little more freedom in the American film industry. A film like “Hornets nest” would never have been produced in the US today, but could well have been so in for example Italy or Spain. It´s a pity that the best films produced in the US today concerning anything about the genre of coming of age are films like for example “Dog days of summer”, “Hotel for dogs” and similar rather lame productions. I know that there are exceptions, but they are few. The story of the film takes place in Italy during the WWII. An American parachute soldier (Rock Hudson) is shoot down by the German troops and rescued by a group of orphaned boys (and one girl) of about 11-13 years old, and taken to their isolated camp in the forest. During the following night they force a female doctor (Sylva Koscina) to go to the camp and help the soldier. After he recovers he gets on with his mission to blow up a dam, thus intending to flood the German military base located downstreams. However this task isn´t so easy to accomplish without involving the kids in the operation, something the doctor is strongly against. Underneath the main story there is the psychological drama of the orphaned children having to have witnessed the shooting of their parents in the beginning of the film. This use of multiple layers in the story, makes it deeper than many US films, that many times have difficulties in getting a single thread going. The children in the film are beautifully acted by very talented boys.

         

Photo: *****(excellent)

Acting: ****(very good)

Story: ****(very good)

Soundtrack: **(below average)

Total: ****(very good)

          

The boys:

Aldo (Mark Colleano)

Carlo (Mauro Gravina)

Dino (John Fordyce)

Franco (Giuseppe Cassuto)

Tonio (Amedeo Castracane)

Romeo (Giancarlo Colombaioni)

Mikko (Ronald Colombaioni)

Arturo (Valerio Colombaioni)

Rico (Giuseppe Coppola)

Paolo (Luigi Criscuolo)

 

This review would not have been possible without the valuable support of CVMC. I would like to thank them for supporting my blog by providing the DVD of  “Hornets nest” .

Check out lots of other coming of age films at cvmc.net, the oldest movie rental service on the internet – since 1998. Specializing in hard to find & rare films from around the world!

Lessons at the end of spring

Another Russian coming of age film, this one from 1989, where you sometimes in the dialogue can sense the fall of the Soviet union, even if the film is pre-perestrojka. Like most other Russian coming of age films, this one is also of high class, with excellent performances from for example the thirteen year old boy (played by Danya Tolkachev), but also from the other characters. The story is well written and the soundtrack quiet ok, especially towards the end. The film is about a boy who gets imprisoned after having attending a street riot on his way to the cinemas. We will then follow his days in prison, which can be a harsh place to be at his age.

* Country: Soviet Union

* Release: 1989

* Director: Oleg Kavun

* Actors: Danya Tolkachev

* Award: Promotional award, Cottbus Film Festival of Young East European Cinema

       

Photo: *****(excellent)

Acting: ****(very good)

Story: ****(very good)

Soundtrack: ***(good)

Total: ****(very good)

This review would not have been possible without the valuable support of CVMC. I would like to thank them for supporting my blog by providing the DVD of  “Lessons at the end of spring” .

Check out lots of other coming of age films at cvmc.net, the oldest movie rental service on the internet – since 1998. Specializing in hard to find & rare films from around the world!

Mirakel (Miracle)

A Danish coming of age film about two friends, Dennis and Mick, who are in love with the same girl. Dennis´mother is still in grief after Dennis late father, and is not much of support, meaning that Dennis must take care of himself and has no grown up to talk to about his problems. One day an angel appears, could it be Dennis´father? If Dennis wants to, he can get a pair of angel wings and magic powers to change things around him to the better. But he must promise not to swear. (If you recognise the story, you have probably watched “Gabriel and me” , 2001, it´s almost the same plot).

* Country: Denmark

* Release: 2000

* Director: Natasha Arty

* Actors: Stefan Pagels Andersen (Dennis), Sebastian Jessen (Mick)

* Awards: Buster´s grand prix, Buster International Children’s Film Festival, AGIS Gold medal+Bronze Gryphon, Giffoni Film Festival, Award of the city of Zlin+Children´s Jury main prize, Zlín International Film Festival for Children and Youth.

This review would not have been possible without the valuable support of CVMC. I would like to thank them for supporting my blog by providing the DVD of  “Mirakel” .

Check out lots of other coming of age films at cvmc.net, the oldest movie rental service on the internet – since 1998. Specializing in hard to find & rare films from around the world!

         

Photo: ****(very good)

Acting: ****(very good)

Story: ***(good)

Soundtrack: **(below average)

Total: ****(very good)

Flowers in the pocket

It feels rather unusual to review a coming of age film from Malaysia, but this film from 2007 was no disappointment. This is a great Asian film about two boys, Li Ahn and Li Ohm. Throughout the film the main focus is on the lives of the two brothers, when they are in school, meeting new friends and so on. It took a while before I realised that they actually lived with their father, who mostly is at work and just come home to sleep what it seems. The boys have to manage themselves pretty much, even though they´re a bit too young for that. However later on in the film we´ll follow some new development of the relationship with their absent father.

* Country: Malaysia

* Release: 2007

* Director: Liew Seng Tat

* Actors:  Zi Jiang Wong (Li Ohm), Ming Wei Lim (Li Ahn)

* Award: Tiger Award, Rotterdam International Film Festival (2008)

This review would not have been possible without the valuable support of CVMC. I would like to thank them for supporting my blog by providing the DVD of  “Flowers in the pocket” .

Check out lots of other coming of age films at cvmc.net, the oldest movie rental service on the internet – since 1998. Specializing in hard to find & rare films from around the world!

       

Photo: ***** (excellent)

Acting: ***(good)

Story: ***(good)

Soundtrack: **(below average)

Total: ****(very good)

Dreszcze (Shivers)

IMDb. A Polish social drama from 1981, set in the 1950s during the communist era. The Stalinist mentality, here being constantly present, gives the films from the Eastern Europe a special coming of age atmosphere not found in other films. This story begins in a small town somewhere in Poland, where we encounter Tomek, living with his parents and little brother. One day his father is arrested for political reasons, and the very next day Tomek is chosen among his schoolmates to be among those who will go to a youth camp. We will then follow the events that take place during this period. It´s interesting to see how current political issues and beliefs are integrated into the minds of these young boys and it makes you wonder what beliefs are taken for granted today. I think this is a very nicely written coming of age story. It is well directed, it´s a good story, full of good acting, and with a much better photo than I even can show you by a few screen shots. You will not get disappointed if you see this film.

Release date: 23 November 1981

Country: Poland

Director:  Wojciech Marczewski

Genre: Drama

This review would not have been possible without the valuable support of CVMC . I would like to thank them for supporting my blog by providing the DVD of  “Dreszcze” .

Check out lots of other coming of age films at cvmc.net, the oldest movie rental service on the internet – since 1998. Specializing in hard to find & rare films from around the world!

              

Photo: *****(excellent)

Acting: *****(excellent)

Story: ***(good)

Soundtrack: ***(good)

Total: ****(very good)

Inside out: Portraits of children

This a complementary (rather short) documentary included in the “Little Fugitive“-DVD I got, made by the same director, Joanna Lipper. The film presents the portraits of some children, boys and girls, roughly about 10-13 years old. They present themselves, and then talks about their lives, their dreams and goals in life and other things. It´s decently done, but was a bit slow and very conventional and a bit boring to watch. It caught my interest a few times though. If you compare to other documentaries, I would rather recommend for example “Boy of Baghdad” or “Chippendiddys“. Here are a few screenshots.