Films of Youth List Discussion + Suggestions (Genre Project)

An ongoing project to survey the best films of individual decades, genres, and filmmakers.
Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
Kirkinson
Joined: Wed Dec 15, 2004 5:34 am
Location: Portland, OR

Re: Films of Youth List Discussion + Suggestions (Genre Project)

#201 Post by Kirkinson » Sun Aug 05, 2018 6:53 pm

domino harvey wrote:
Sun Aug 05, 2018 5:47 pm
An exhaustive analysis of the pizza scene from Home Alone

EDIT: Party cut?? What the fuck, Chicagoeans, explain yourself
The party cut is so ubiquitous in the Chicago suburbs that I had no idea it was weird until I moved out of state and never, ever saw it again. Somehow, the fact that I had never seen it portrayed in a movie or on TV never occurred to me. It also seems strange to me, though, that the author of that pizza book claims Chicagoans don't actually order deep dish pizza. It's certainly not an everyday thing (it's way too filling) but it's definitely not just a tourist thing, either. In my family it was like a meal for special occasions like graduations or little league baseball victories.

User avatar
Feego
Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2007 7:30 pm
Location: Texas

Re: Films of Youth List Discussion + Suggestions (Genre Project)

#202 Post by Feego » Sun Aug 05, 2018 9:08 pm

Some pizza parlors (do people still say that?) in Texas offer the party cut too.

User avatar
domino harvey
Dot Com Dom
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: Films of Youth List Discussion + Suggestions (Genre Project)

#203 Post by domino harvey » Sun Aug 05, 2018 9:12 pm

There's a chain here, Ledo, that does square cuts, but the pizzas are rectangular, so it makes sense

User avatar
knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: Films of Youth List Discussion + Suggestions (Genre Project)

#204 Post by knives » Sun Aug 05, 2018 9:37 pm

Square cuts are called party cuts? Weird, I remember Pizza Hut or some other chain offering that in PA.

User avatar
Mr Sausage
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 9:02 pm
Location: Canada

Re: Films of Youth List Discussion + Suggestions (Genre Project)

#205 Post by Mr Sausage » Mon Aug 06, 2018 6:28 am

Yeah, pizza hut did party cuts here in Canada, too (or at least southwestern Ontario). I only ever saw them at birthdays.

User avatar
Shrew
The Untamed One
Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 2:22 am

Re: Films of Youth List Discussion + Suggestions (Genre Project)

#206 Post by Shrew » Mon Aug 06, 2018 2:01 pm

Donato's, which I think is based in Ohio (at least, that's where I've seen them), cuts all their pizza like that (though I've never heard it called a "party cut"). I kinda like it, since it essentially makes pizza bite size. Of course, it only really works with thin crust pizza which is already an abomination in and of itself so who cares how you cut it.

User avatar
therewillbeblus
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm

Re: Films of Youth List Discussion + Suggestions (Genre Project)

#207 Post by therewillbeblus » Tue Jul 21, 2020 9:16 pm

Image

Youth in Revolt

I'm surprised that this wasn't even an orphan in this project, as a revisit only confirmed the eccentric genius I recalled about this underappreciated gem from my first viewing ten years back. This film understands the developmentally-appropriate egocentricity of youth, as well as the self-absorption that inebriates the mind when one is emotionally enveloped in a state of love, so well that it weaponizes the overwhelming obsession against the systems of power that suppress its actualization. The fantasy of supreme agency in attaining one's love (or, at this stage of life, one's "everything") is realised in the the only way a self-conscious normal teenager can.. by compartmentalizing his personality to create an alter-ego that can be bad for him while he maintains his inhibited identity. The externalization of this socially-inappropriate impetus is a blend of id-run-riot and calculated anarchism; that is, Michael Cera's other half may be a sociopath, but he's the incarnation of the powerless teenager's wish fulfillment. The film understands that the only way kids know how to visualize their ideal lives is to dream or venture to extremes, in doing the opposite of what 'feels right' or what 'society condones' because the polarized version of what I'm doing has to give me what I'm not getting, right?

The film is dark because of the implications of its physical events, but even moreso because there's a sick truth and relatability to the mental processes that act as antecedents to the harm. Scenes like the college seduction that takes place after "no" has already been uttered and clarified will challenge audiences of today to wrestle with that grey area of assertiveness in sexual power dynamics, or persisting in doing one's best to express their affection, versus the non-coercive route of operating submissively yet safely and conscientiously in sexual politics. The film dances (or rather, jarringly wavers) on that line, acknowledging the unsettling truths that are problematic and affirming simultaneously, pertaining to our drives that are often at odds with one another. We need to tame and contain, but also recognize and release, these parts of us- but the lack of a safe blueprint coaligns with our inability to even sit with our direct thoughts, which forces repression rather than confrontation. Cera's evil side has a few lessons to teach, but if one can't -and isn't supported in navigating their inner needs, then you wind up doing some pretty fucked up shit.

The last act's fight between Cera and his father harshly prompts him with the opportunity to "grow up" but the reaction to fight, flee, and continue to hold on to his will power to take the opportunity to "grow up" on his own terms, is absurdly demented and existentially poignant. This film remembers what it's like to be in that awkward stage of emerging adulthood where you're still treated like a kid, because you are, but also have the passion that demands life beat to your drum; where the confusion, anger, and sadness that come with that in-between stage have no space to securely erupt. So here is an authentically deranged vision of a place where that entire mess can be validated, without endorsing all of its pieces, certainly not by themselves.

User avatar
therewillbeblus
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm

Re: Films of Youth List Discussion + Suggestions (Genre Project)

#208 Post by therewillbeblus » Sun Aug 16, 2020 11:41 pm

The Goonies is one of those movies that I always liked as a kid but wasn’t a distinguishable favorite, yet it’s skyrocketed in enjoyment and respect in adulthood. Oddly as I get older I love it more, and having already rekindled my immense appreciation in my 20s, this latest revisit served as the perfect nostalgia elixir; not from my personal experience with the film, but for the spirit of adventure and youthful wish-fulfillment of succeeding on a quest with unsupervised independence. This film literally actualizes all childhood fantasies, from the central treasure plot to besting evil grownups to getting away with outsmarting random or familiar adults of all shapes and sizes.

The latter point comes about sporadically especially in the first act, with Feldman’s (not-PG) perverted Spanish translations and a glue job on a mini statue of David stacking unbelievably raunchy gags together, before overpowering the older jock brother! The film is beyond funny, with even the adults’ ignorances earning big laughs (“can’t you learn to exercise like a normal kid?”). I could go on and on, but it’d just be one long rendition of everything that happens here. Who’d have thought that this movie in particular, that’s intrinsically dependent on a childlike imagination to work, would be the one to ripen so fully with age.

User avatar
therewillbeblus
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm

Re: Films of Youth List Discussion + Suggestions (Genre Project)

#209 Post by therewillbeblus » Sun Sep 13, 2020 3:40 am

Clueless is many things: funny, intuitive, visually clever and skilled at enveloping audiences in its many spaces. It’s a definitive 90s work, subverting ‘chick flick’ cliches by embracing the very superficialities in narrative structure and production design that the characters do in their cosmetic pleasures, without a condescending attitude that might dub them shallow, and through the same deserved confidence the leads imbue into their milieu. This is a world where it’s good to be popular because it provides opportunities to live fully, develop, and self-actualize, with the kind of flexibility that is derived from a foundation of comfortability.

On my nth revisit, I was further impressed by just how secure the film is in its fairly simplistic stance on altruism, which fits right into the light tone branded onto realist topics. Cher’s ‘good deeds’, from using people as projects to helping with charity work at the end, are all undeniably rooted in selfish gains. The growth occurs in subtle ways (movement from the teacher-pairing to cheat grades, to a social-mobility makeover stemming from boredom, to a small gesture to help her teacher with a charity drive without an audience of peers to gratify her) yet they all serve the same purpose: making Cher feel better.

Feeling good is not shamed, and the whole depth of psychological intent doesn’t matter. What matters is that Cher does these things, and actually commits actions with the intent of bettering others, as well as herself. The argument of counting ‘why’s and weighing them against each other takes time away from ‘doing’, and the film dares to scoff at the philosophy of debating ‘true altruism’ with its own authenticity that’s too busy living and supplying the world with actual net good while those that judge the Chers of the world with an air of superiority fail to get out of their own way and do the same. Sometimes a hypothesis that allows two seemingly paradoxical truths to be mutually exclusive is the shortest and easiest path to personal happiness and human decency.

User avatar
therewillbeblus
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm

Re: Films of Youth List Discussion + Suggestions (Genre Project)

#210 Post by therewillbeblus » Sun Jan 31, 2021 9:46 pm

La cotta starts as a nouvelle vague playful riff on youthful spirit, full of fast-paced antics and comically-earnest internal logic, and ends with the most poignant and true explanation of immature expectations of love that I've seen, unfortunately a reminder that this young psychology still infects some of us well into our adulthood. What a wonderful, wonderful film, a lock for my 60s list and an easy contender for the top half of a Youth list had I submitted one

User avatar
knives
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm

Re: Films of Youth List Discussion + Suggestions (Genre Project)

#211 Post by knives » Sun Jan 31, 2021 10:14 pm

I didn’t know Italy was in France! :)

User avatar
therewillbeblus
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm

Re: Films of Youth List Discussion + Suggestions (Genre Project)

#212 Post by therewillbeblus » Sun Jan 31, 2021 10:32 pm

I meant that to read as being both a playful riff on the French New Wave and youthful spirit. It feels like a nouvelle vague film, for a while.. (Jeanine's move from Paris to Milan could be seen as reflexively responsible for that intrusion of vivacious style, and her subsequent absence and the narrative that follows could be viewed as a return to sobriety in Italian melodrama, but that's just a fun reading I have no desire to defend)

User avatar
therewillbeblus
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm

Re: Films of Youth List Discussion + Suggestions (Genre Project)

#213 Post by therewillbeblus » Thu Oct 14, 2021 12:57 am

Jeremy (Arthur Barron, 1973) is an unsung masterpiece, a film I knew I loved the first time around but a revisit only clarified how right the two young stars, Robby Benson and Glynnis O'Connor, get the awkwardness, candidness, fleeting anxiety and confidence brewing in any first romance. They confess truths to one another, ask questions with interest, struggle to explain why they like each other, or why they even like their own interests, or feel the way they do in a given moment- but they share themselves with one another, observe a glee in their partner that rests in a spiritual domain, and express desire with a genuine affection giving the other person their full attention. A lesser film would -and has- played these people as personalities of binary temperaments. Jeremy could easily have been devolved into the introverted boy who stumbles over his words as Susan ushers him into self-actualization with her assured and patient convictions, but they each drum up their own forms of transparent trust by stating how they feel, and- in an appropriately-messy demonstration of the inconsistencies in relationship dynamics of youth- oscillate between initiating a conversation with courage and bashfully requiring the other to offer a prompt before rediscovering that faith that they can peel back another onion layer of emotion nakedly in their partner's presence. Neither Jeremy or Susan fits a dominant role, and this careful and sensitive portrayal of minute, consensual power shifts lends itself to how a first love blossoms and changes by the second.

The final 'act' is also admirably rushed, brief, without pausing to grant either party spacious opportunities to contemplate the information and how it will affect them. Yet despite Barron's apt execution of the bandaid-ripping pace these life events ephemerally whisk past our processing systems' readiness, the loss is allowed to temporarily rest in limbo as each character wrestles with their limited agency to thwart the powerlessness of their youthful positions to actualize their destinies.
SpoilerShow
The actual ending is the most realistic depiction of the elusive temporal flow in goodbyes I've ever seen in a romance. For anyone who has had a perfect relationship become challenged, or even end, due to circumferential variables like distance or timing, this one hits the nail on the head.
I'm also more convinced than ever, from the trailer alone, that PTA used this as an influence on Licorice Pizza

User avatar
therewillbeblus
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm

Re: Films of Youth List Discussion + Suggestions (Genre Project)

#214 Post by therewillbeblus » Sun Oct 24, 2021 12:38 am

Pump Up the Volume is an interesting twist on Network, not only in pivoting from an elderly man without much to lose toward a group of isolated youths in the same boat with everything to lose, at least in self-perception, but its ahead-of-its-time meditation on how the socially-inhibited can reject their filter and connect entire communities with the courage to be honest. I love what this film has to say about how all youth, regardless of popular status, gender, sexuality, or mental health issues, share a need to be validated and to be vulnerable. The film takes a peripheral route to celebrating the voiceless. These kids aren’t “mad as hell” - that’s been done countless times before or since- they’re sad as hell, yearning for genuine affection from others, trapped by the barriers of confusion, isolated social structures, and self-imposed alienation. “Everyone is alike in some way, everyone needs the same thing.”

The film doesn’t stop here on a linearly-functioning utopian plane. Instead Moyle’s brilliant script continues to weighs the value of connectivity breaking down painful defenses with consequences of accidental sociopolitical messaging leading to individualized responses to content with destructive mob mentality and even more brutal forms of self-destruction. Beyond the mezzo concerns, the weight of responsibility Slater feels is increasingly complex, including the pressure to express himself, support his community, and also toeing the fine line as a vehicle that can either enable or alter harmful behavior, often outside of his control- though his willingness to continue issuing that limited control is encouraging, coming from both selfish and selfless places.

It's refreshing to watch a film take an optimistic lens to this kind of phantom expression, especially now during an era where many of us have soured to how youth (well, everyone) have used social media platforms to regurgitate their perspectives insularly, without a harmonizing effect, and often creating the opposite, violently oppressive energy towards our peers. Aside from the contrived principal-as-villain plot point that neatly ties itself up, this is a great depiction of an affirming voice that binds segregated youths together and allows them to find intimacy within themselves, by brazenly aiding them in self-liberation through unlocking their collective "longing for healing." It's a film about the formation of a movement that subverts negative messaging around cultish self-help gurus. It's about cultivating the social community we crave, and stressing that we all possess the power to yield inhibitions towards inner and interpersonal therapeutic development, while also validating how challenging it is for us to overcome these obstacles. If it wasn't we wouldn't need movies like this to remind us of our capacity to work through our own fears, doubts, and insecurities, and the great rewards that await us on the other side of self-actualization.

User avatar
therewillbeblus
Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm

Re: Films of Youth List Discussion + Suggestions (Genre Project)

#215 Post by therewillbeblus » Thu May 19, 2022 8:49 pm

Havoc (Barbara Kopple, 2005) is an unfortunate misfire. The film is unlikeable by design, starting with off-putting mixture of self-pitying Fuck the World theatrics, tough-guy theatrics, and black culture appropriation by rich white kids, who live and are willing to die by their image. This last piece would be really interesting- and at times the film grazes at truth, except that this idea of a social identity that promotes risk-taking behavior is diagnosed as fake vs. the authentic moral and innocent identity that comes out when Hathaway et al. take off the makeup. I think this unintended yet implicit simplification of social psychology is not only racist and classist, terrible things on their own obviously, but undermines the strengths of the film. I have known and continue to work with so many youth who are self-aware and cognizant of the harmful situations they put themselves in (some uncomfortably similar to this film's most horrifying scenes) and yet there is a real magnetism that comes for youth regardless of race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status, towards thrill-seeking behaviors just inherently by brain chemistry at this developmental age. This is not an inauthentic version of themselves, and all the divergent narratives that blossom from a key violation (which is troublesomely minimized by the wrong character as well..) could serve for a ripe examination of the many valid parts of ourselves we struggle to own and take responsibility for. This film makes responsibility very binary and diagnostically naked, and it's a missed opportunity to dig into what the film clearly wants to explore, but doesn't quite know how to execute its worldview into the cinematic space of a lucid narrative.

Post Reply