The first hour of the film is made like a documentary of rural life in an Eskimo-like community on the northern Siberian coast. The other part of the film is a slowly progressive drama about a boy, his father and two other men going out for a boat trip to hunt some seals on a remote island off the coast. They are travelling in a handmade wooden boat, with only the sky to navigate from. After a successful hunting they head back for the village. However they are surprised by bad weather and are swept into a heavy fog that will last for days. With nothing to eat and the water supply running out, the men are starting to sacrifice themselves one by one for the little boy. This is a slow film, with almost no dialogue, but this is a unique piece of authentic social anthropology. Of course it is also a nice coming of age portrait about the boy. The film was made in 1990, an the director is Karen Gevorkian.

My next review will be of the Russian film ”Pegij Pyos Begushchij Krayem Morya”, a slow yet intense film about a boy living in Siberia. There will also be a review of ”The sandlot”, a film about some young boys having fun in the neighborhood. The review of the Russian film had not been possible without the support from cvmc.net. Check it out!

Click here for the review!

This very strong drama from Picture This! and the director Christophe Honoré is very well done and a must see. The 12-year-old boy Marcel is living a normal life with his family in a coastal village in France, but one day he discovers that the family is keeping a secret from him only because they think he´s too young to know. After dinner one night he overhears a conversation where it is revealed that his 21-year-old brother Leo has got HIV and has already developed some AIDS-related symptoms. Leo is not dealing very well with the situation and refuses to start medication, and is certain that he will die very soon. For Marcel life is turned upside down when trying to understand why his loving brother is sick, and most of all he´s disappointed of his family for not telling him the truth. The photo is a bit shaky in the beginning of the film, but soon it gets more than good. The cast is brilliant, not least the young Yaniss Lespert, playing Marcel. Leo is also played very nicely by Pierre Mignard.

Thanks to the support by cvmc.net I´m able to present a review of the Dutch film ”Nachttocht” from 1982.  At first sight there is a slightly controversial plot concerning a boy´s interest in his canoe practising male teacher.  However, during the film it´s obvious that the love and friendship with the 23 year old Joep also is filling an empty space left by the boy´s absent father. When the 12 year old Thomas one day finds out that Joep is sleeping with Thomas´mother, he feels betrayed once again. He then thinks that Joep´s only reason for the previous interest in him was to get close to his mother. This is a great coming of age film about growing up and dealing with feelings of love, friendship, jealousy and betrayal. Will there be a happy ending? Watch it and you´ll know! 

Want to know more? Also check out the review at skykid.com!

Sample screenshots from the gallery:

”Io non ho paura” or ”I´m not scared” is a very colorful Italian coming of age film from the director Gabriele Salvatores. Though made already in 2003 with a lot of nominations and wins at several film festivals I haven´t seen it until recently. It´s a rather scary story about a young boy who makes a horrible discovery involving his family. It´s also about friendship and is seen through the eyes of the boy Michele. He is played beautifully by Giuseppe Cristiano (born in 1990). Will he expose the hidden secret or will he stay loyal to his family? The camerawork in this film is absolutely excellent. Italian film industry has produced several good films, and this is no exception.    

Nominated for two Oscars in 2001 for best cinematography (Lajos Koltai) and best music (Ennio Morricone), one nomination at the Berlin International Film Festival (Golden Berlin Bear), the audience award at the European Film Awards, the Golden Globe at the Golden Globes, USA, and many other nominations including winning at David di Donatello Awards and Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists, this is a well acclaimed Italian coming of age masterpiece.  It´s a strong story about the young boy Renato Amaroso taking place in the beginning of the WWII in a sleepy village in fascist Italy.  The conditions of life in such a place where gossip goes around fast and the Italian catholic moral ideas are very present are authentically woven together with the story of Renato´s journey into manhood. Malèna is the most beautiful woman in town, and Renato´s life changes from the day he first sets his eyes on her. This is a really nice film, with a beautiful photo, excellent acting and with an entertaining and ”genuinely erotic” (Washington Post) story. The director is Giuseppe Tornatore, the writer and director of  ”Cinema Paradiso”. The boy is played by Giuseppe Sulfaro (born in 1984).

Other productions Giuseppe Sulfaro has been engaged in:

”Don Gnocchi – L’angelo dei bimbi” (2004)

”Enas iroas… sti Romi” (2006)

”Il sole nero” (2007)

You have most certainly already seen other films about Robinson Crusoe based on the original book by Daniel Defoe (1660-1731, the book Robinson Crusoe dated 1719). This is not the latest, since it was actually made already in 1968 by the director Ralph C.Bluemke (USA) (director of ”I was a teenage mummy”, 1962, ”The kid and the killers”, 1974). However even if it´s rather old, its quality has survived through the decades as being an alternative Robinson-story. The film is centered around a boy about 10-12 years old who is shipwrecked on a remote island. In the beginning he is alone but soon encounters another boy (Friday), who has been on the island much longer and already has been adapted to the environment. If you want you can interprete this meeting between the two boys as ”the modern society meets the unspoiled and natural”. There are some (a few) similarities to the film ”Lord of the flies”, as you are amazed of how soon the shipwrecked boy seems to forget his former life (besides brief moments when memories come back to him and he gets a bit sad). The film is taken place in what many would think of as the natural (?) environment of mankind (including the profound naturistic touch), but still you throughout the film are waiting for ”the rescue” of the boy back to the ”normal” society. This theme is reminding me of the film ”The Genesis Children”. The boy ”Robby” is played by Warren Raum and the boy who plays ”Friday” is Ryp Siani.

I have just watched the film ”Mon oncle Antoine”(1971), a Canadian portrait of a boy´s coming of age in a wintry 1940s rural Quebec. According to critics, this is one of the greatest Canadian films of all time. According to me, the director Claude Jutra (1930-1986) has made a fine and authentic cinematographic experience, where the camera works nicely together with the excellent cast. There are some scenes that are more intense than others, but sometimes the film gets a bit slow even for my taste. I had wanted to see more of the main actor Jacques Gagnin, who is playing the young boy Benoit. Apart from this film I can only find one more film where he appears (”La mort d´un bûcheron”, 1973). I have a tendency to be a bit critical about the soundtrack in many films, but the soundtrack in this film is better than usual. There are no real surprises in this film, so don´t get disappointed if you just find a good drama here. This is not one of the best films in my collection, but it still is a film I certainly would recommend if you are interested in coming of age films!

Synopsis: Benoit is a young boy who is living together with his uncle who is running a funeral company, and we´ll follow the boy when he is helping his uncle with the death of a 15 year old neighbor boy.

Arne, Bønna (Bjørn Tore), Petter and Eivind are twelve years old and best friends in school. We will follow the guys as they test the limits of right and wrong, friendship and loyalty. Bønna is the toughest boy among them but also suffer from emotional stress since his parents recent divorce, and is a risk taker, not always thinking about the consequenses of his actions. Arne is the calm boy who follows Bønna wherever he goes. The two other boys are more easily scared and run away as soon as things are getting tough. The boys constantly get into all sorts of troubles, and the adults among them are more or less helpless or absent. The film is divided into several episodes, that give you the opportunity to watch one episode at a time instead of the whole 175 minutes. This is a descent Norwegian film about boys in the threshold between childhood and adolesence. I enjoyed it throughout the film (and watched all episodes without any break…!).

 Actors:

Arne = Jonas Olsen 

Bjørn Tore = Bjørn Skalpe Bjørnli

Petter = Sondre Vegheim

Eivind = Olav Endresen Haukeli

Director = Arild Andresen

Year = 2006

This review had not been possible without the support from cvmc.net.

Preparing for the big jump from the highest cliff on the island…In the beginning of the film we are told that Arne has been sick and when being in hospital he wrote a list of special things he would do if he got better….jumping from the cliff into the cold sea was one of them!