All posts tagged: comingofage

French film show: Sweet nostalgia in 1980s coming-of-age story ‘Just an Illusion’ – arts24

French film show: Sweet nostalgia in 1980s coming-of-age story ‘Just an Illusion’ – arts24

Published by Sam Flores

Film critic Manon Kerjean tells us why “Just an Illusion” is more than just a tender study of young teenagers’ first love, and how its retro décor and timely themes add weight to a family dynamic with Camille Cottin and Louis Garrel taking on parental roles. We also check out offbeat romance “The Doll”, starring Vincent Macaigne, Cécile de France and newcomer Zoé Marchal. Manon tells us why, despite its unlikely premise, the film makes some pertinent points about gender roles and loneliness, while delivering plenty of laughs. The true story of Philippe Croizon, a paraplegic who swam the English Channel, is brought to the screen in “For Better or Worse”, with para-athlete Pierre Rabine in the lead role. Plus we dip into Claire Denis’s latest film “The Fence” as the director depicts the tensions brewing on a construction site in West Africa. Source link

The Testaments review: The Handmaid’s Tale sequel is a dark coming-of-age tale

The Testaments review: The Handmaid’s Tale sequel is a dark coming-of-age tale

Published by Daniella Wilson

A star rating of 4 out of 5. It’s been a year since viewers left Gilead behind for good, as the extended version of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale came to an end in the sixth season. Now, the dystopian epic has returned with a dark coming-of-age fable in the sequel, The Testaments. Set 15 years after the events of The Handmaid’s Tale, Agnes (Chase Infiniti) is a plum (a pre-pubescent girl in Gilead) ripe for the picking for an arranged marriage by one of the aunts at Aunt Lydia’s finishing school for girls. Groomed until they are ‘truly worthy’ of a husband (aka become fertile), the teenage girls – dressed in plum, pearl or green – are primed to run a household with training in the culinary arts, lace work and the scriptures. Daisy (Lucy Halliday), Agnes’ newly assigned pearl girl, is both the bridge to the outside world and our eyes into this alternate perspective on the regime. Raised in Canada, Daisy is an outsider shrouded in secrets. Difficult to trust, Agnes and …

In the coming-of-age documentary ‘Agridulce,’ the kids are keeping bachata alive

In the coming-of-age documentary ‘Agridulce,’ the kids are keeping bachata alive

Published by Sam Flores

Before becoming a global phenomenon in the 2000s thanks to artists like Aventura, Monchy y Alexandra and Prince Royce, and before being declared an “intangible cultural heritage of humanity” by UNESCO in 2019, bachata was — and continues to be — the soundtrack of the Dominican Republic. The importance of the genre to the people of the Caribbean nation is at the heart of “Agridulce,” a music documentary that had its world premiere at this month’s South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas. Filmed over the course of five years, the feature follows four young students at Academia de Bachata, a music conservatory in the beachside resort town of Cabarete. It’s the only school of its kind in the world. Academia de Bachata was founded in 2013 by music producer Benjamin De Menil. After traveling to the Dominican Republic to record for nearly three decades, De Menil says he wanted to create something that would ensure that the next generation continues the traditions of bachata. “One of the things I loved about the bachata …

‘The River Train’ Coming-of-Age Film Trailer, Interview: Berlin 2026

‘The River Train’ Coming-of-Age Film Trailer, Interview: Berlin 2026

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get ready to watch some Malambo dancing and to board The River Train (El Tren Fluvial) for a trip from the Argentinian countryside to Buenos Aires, on which you will encounter references to the country’s cinematic history! A visceral and mesmerizing coming-of-age tale awaits you. The River Train, celebrating its world premiere on Monday, Feb. 16, in the Berlin International Film Festival‘s Perspectives section of first features, is the debut film of Lorenzo Ferro, who is so far mostly known as an actor in the likes of El Ángel, Simon of the Mountain, and Narcos, and Lucas A. Vignale, who has made a reputation for himself with directing in the music business. The duo co-wrote and co-directed The River Train after collaborating on the short film La Pasión. “Nine-year-old Milo is growing up with the pressure to become a great Malambo dancer and the ‘perfect’ son,” reads a synopsis for their first feature. Malambo is a traditional folk dance, traditionally performed by male gauchos. “Milo dreams of taking control of his life and escaping his …

Gaming’s new coming-of-age genre embraces ‘millennial cringe’ | Games

Gaming’s new coming-of-age genre embraces ‘millennial cringe’ | Games

Published by Sam Flores

I’ve noticed an interesting micro-trend emerging in the last few years: millennial nostalgia games. Not just ones that adopt the aesthetic of Y2K gaming – think Crow Country or Fear the Spotlight’s deliberately retro PS1-style fuzzy polygons – but semi-autobiographical games specifically about the millennial experience. I’ve played three in the past year. Despelote is set in 2002 in Ecuador and is played through the eyes of a football-obsessed eight-year-old. The award-winning Consume Me is about being a teen girl battling disordered eating in the 00s. And this week I played a point-and-click adventure game about being a college student in the early 2000s. Perfect Tides: Station to Station is set in New York in 2003 – a year that is the epitome of nostalgia for the micro-generation that grew up without the internet but came of age online. It was before Facebook, before the smartphone, but firmly during the era of late-night forum browsing and instant-messenger conversations. The internet wasn’t yet a vector for mass communication, but it could still bring you together with …