💬 Weekly Question: What film defined your 'coming of age'?
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Eighteen months ago, I asked my readers what album defined their coming of age. Well, this week, I’m going to ask that question again from the cinematic perspective:
What film defined your transition from “childhood” to “grown-up” like no other?
Don’t just drop a film title either, StoryTalkers. Tell me why.
My answer is Clerks (1994). As Midwestern kid from a no-consequence town and absolutely no privilege, this was the film that convinced me, “You can do this, too” about filmmaking.
It’s a film about lovable losers, videots like me, and shot on a shoestring budget that seemed conceivable to someone born into the life I was. I wanted to do that.
And then I promptly didn’t, but that’s a story for another day. The impulse, as largely unsatisfied as it remained for many years, nonetheless informed decisions I made for almost as long. Before Clerks, I was a kid who thought making films someday sounded like a fantasy. After Clerks, I was…well…not necessarily a whole other person or even an adult. But someone with a new awareness of the meaning they wanted from their lives.
HAROLD AND MAUDE. It was 1971, I was a sophmore in High School, so got over the awkwardness of being a freshman. Was allowed to go to the movies in a car with other kids as long as there were more than 2 of us in the car and of course, the one driving had a legal license. We drove up to Northampton, MA to see this film at a cool college movie house. The people I was with were grossed out by the May-December love story. (I knew then that my "friends" would not be my friends much longer) I was transfixed by the idea that Life was for living and do what you want and who cared what other people thought. It was your life and it could be over too soon. Heady stuff for a 15 year old. I will always love Ruth Gordon's performance in that movie. She was transcendent.
KIDS (1995) - Larry Clark. Although I didn't live in New York City, I was a skater, and this film was reflective of the skate culture, although there weren't any women skating in my time, the parties were like this and the only thing missing is the illegal raves in the countryside, where we lugged speakers out into the corner of a paddock and partied until the sun came up.
The next obvious candidate is STAND BY ME (1986), which came out when I was 12 years old and also quite reflected my life roaming up in the Port Hills behind my parents house, building little dirt forts with fallen branches and storing my shoplifted pick-your-path books in them. No dead bodies by the railway though