212 articles
Take Care of My Cat (고양이를 부탁해)
Take Care of My Cat (고양이를 부탁해) is Jeong Jae-eun's 2001 South Korean debut drama about five Incheon friends drifting apart after high school, linked by a stray cat; a box-office failure that won Rotterdam and Berlin recognition and was re-released in 2021 and 2026.
The 400 Blows
The 400 Blows (Les quatre cents coups) is François Truffaut's 1959 debut feature about Parisian boy Antoine Doinel, played by Jean-Pierre Léaud; it won Best Director at Cannes 1959 and founded the French New Wave.
The Blue Lagoon (1980 film)
The Blue Lagoon (1980) is a Randal Kleiser romantic survival drama from Columbia Pictures starring Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkins as shipwrecked cousins, adapted from Stacpoole's 1908 novel, filmed in Fiji, a 1980 box-office hit but critical failure.
The Diary of a Teenage Girl
The Diary of a Teenage Girl is a 2015 comedy-drama directed by Marielle Heller, adapted from Phoebe Gloeckner's 2002 graphic novel, starring Bel Powley, Kristen Wiig, and Alexander Skarsgård; set in 1976 San Francisco, it premiered at Sundance 2015 and scored 87 on Metacritic.
The Elementary School
The Elementary School (Obecná škola), 1991 Czechoslovak comedy-drama, Jan Svěrák's directorial debut scripted by his father Zdeněk Svěrák; postwar Prague schoolboys, teacher Igor Hnízdo, 1992 Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.
The Escape Artist
The Escape Artist (1982) is Caleb Deschanel's directorial debut, a Zoetrope Studios comedy-drama starring Griffin O'Neal as teenage magician Danny Masters, son of an escape artist second only to Houdini, with Raul Julia, Desi Arnaz, and Ricky Jay as magic advisor.
The Fallout (film)
The Fallout is a 2021 American teen drama, Megan Park's directorial debut, starring Jenna Ortega as a school shooting survivor; it won SXSW's Grand Jury and Audience awards and streamed on HBO Max from January 27, 2022.
The Fault in Our Stars (film)
The Fault in Our Stars (2014) is Josh Boone's film adaptation of John Green's novel, starring Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort as teenage cancer patients in love; released June 6, 2014, it earned over $124 million and an 81% Rotten Tomatoes score.
The Half of It
The Half of It is a 2020 Netflix romantic comedy-drama written and directed by Alice Wu, starring Leah Lewis, Daniel Diemer, and Alexxis Lemire. A queer Cyrano-style teen story set in fictional Squahamish, it won the Tribeca Founders Award and a 2021 Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay.
The Harmonium in My Memory (내 마음의 풍금)
The Harmonium in My Memory (내 마음의 풍금, Nae maeumui punggeum) is a 1999 Korean romantic drama, Lee Young-jae's debut, starring Lee Byung-hun, Jeon Do-yeon, and Lee Mi-yeon; set in 1962 Gangwon, adapted from Ha Geum-chan's 'Yeohaksaeng' and later a musical.
The Hate U Give (film)
The Hate U Give (2018) is George Tillman Jr.'s drama adapted from Angie Thomas's novel, starring Amandla Stenberg as Starr Carter, who witnesses police shoot her friend Khalil; released October 5, 2018, PG-13, 2h 12min.
The Holy Girl
The Holy Girl (La niña santa) is Lucrecia Martel's 2004 Argentine drama, her second feature, competing at Cannes. Sixteen-year-old Amalia, groped by Dr. Jano at a hotel medical conference, treats saving him as a divine vocation.
The House of the Angel
The House of the Angel (La casa del ángel) is a 1957 Argentine drama by Leopoldo Torre Nilsson, adapted from Beatriz Guido's prize-winning 1954 novel, starring Elsa Daniel and Lautaro Murúa, a Cannes 1957 Palme d'Or nominee and landmark of modern Argentine cinema, restored in 4K for Cannes Classics 2026.
The Innocence
The Innocence (La inocencia / La innocència) is Lucía Alemany's 2019 Spanish debut feature, a Catalan-language coming-of-age drama starring Carmen Arrufat as pregnant teen Lis, Goya-nominated and autobiographical.
The Kid with a Bike
The Kid with a Bike (Le gamin au vélo), 2011 Dardenne brothers drama about abandoned boy Cyril and hairdresser Samantha; won the 2011 Cannes Grand Prix ex aequo, 87 minutes, starring Thomas Doret and Cécile de France.
The Kings of Summer
The Kings of Summer is a 2013 American coming-of-age comedy-drama, the feature debut of director Jordan Vogt-Roberts and writer Chris Galletta, starring Nick Robinson, Gabriel Basso, and Moisés Arias as teens who build a house in the woods; Sundance premiere, CBS Films release, $1.3 million US gross.
The Kirishima Thing (桐島、部活やめるってよ)
The Kirishima Thing (桐島、部活やめるってよ) is a 2012 Japanese ensemble drama by Daihachi Yoshida, adapted from Ryo Asai's Subaru Prize debut novel, in which a popular volleyball captain's unexplained club resignation, and his total absence from screen, unsettle a high school's social hierarchy; it won the 36th Japan Academy Prize for Best Picture.
The Last Picture Show
The Last Picture Show is Peter Bogdanovich's 1971 black-and-white Columbia Pictures drama adapted from Larry McMurtry's 1966 novel, set in fictional Anarene, Texas, 1951-52; shot in Archer City, it earned eight Oscar nominations with wins for Ben Johnson and Cloris Leachman.
The Left Ear
The Left Ear (左耳) is a 2015 Chinese coming-of-age drama, Alec Su's directorial debut, adapted from Rao Xueman's novel, starring Chen Duling, Ou Hao, Yang Yang, and Ma Sichun; it earned 500 million yuan and Golden Horse nominations.
The Long Day Closes
The Long Day Closes is Terence Davies's 1992 autobiographical British film about eleven-year-old Bud in 1955-56 Liverpool, a mosaic of memory, cinema, song, and Catholic guilt, nominated for the 1992 Palme d'Or.
The Making of Steel (长大成人)
The Making of Steel (长大成人) is Lu Xuechang's 1997 debut drama about Beijing youth Zhou Qing, his mentor Zhu Helai, and How the Steel Was Tempered; a Sixth Generation landmark released after three years of censorship.
The Mighty
The Mighty (1998) is a Peter Chelsom comedy-drama adapted from Rodman Philbrick's novel Freak the Mighty, starring Kieran Culkin, Elden Henson, Sharon Stone, and James Gandolfini, released by Miramax in October 1998.
The Mighty Celt
The Mighty Celt is a 2005 Northern Irish coming-of-age drama, Pearse Elliott's directing debut, starring Gillian Anderson, Robert Carlyle, Tyrone McKenna, and Ken Stott, about a Belfast boy training a greyhound in post-ceasefire Belfast.
The Myth of the American Sleepover
The Myth of the American Sleepover is David Robert Mitchell's 2010 debut feature, a coming-of-age drama about four teenagers on the last night of summer in suburban Detroit, starring Claire Sloma, Marlon Morton, and Amanda Bauer; SXSW Jury Prize winner distributed by Sundance Selects.
The Outsiders (film)
The Outsiders (1983) is Francis Ford Coppola's film adaptation of S.E. Hinton's 1967 novel about Greasers versus Socs in 1960s Tulsa. Released March 25, 1983, 91 minutes, PG; re-cut in 2005 as The Complete Novel.
The Quiet Girl
The Quiet Girl (An Cailín Ciúin) is Colm Bairéad's 2022 Irish-language drama adapted from Claire Keegan's Foster, about nine-year-old Cáit in 1981 rural Ireland; first Irish-language Oscar nominee and highest-grossing Irish-language film.
The River (1951 film)
The River (1951) is Jean Renoir's first color feature, a Technicolor coming-of-age drama adapted from Rumer Godden's novel, shot on the Hooghly River in Calcutta, winner of the 1951 Venice First International Prize.
The Spectacular Now
The Spectacular Now is a 2013 American coming-of-age comedy drama directed by James Ponsoldt, adapted from Tim Tharp's 2008 YA novel by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, starring Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley; released by A24, it earned a Metacritic score of 82.
The Sterile Cuckoo
The Sterile Cuckoo is a 1969 American comedy-drama, Alan J. Pakula's directorial debut, starring Liza Minnelli as eccentric college student Pookie Adams and earning two Oscar nominations.
The Tit and the Moon
The Tit and the Moon (La teta i la lluna) is a 1994 Spanish-French comedy-drama by Bigas Luna, third of his Iberian trilogy, about boy Tete asking the moon for a breast; it won Venice's Best Screenplay Osella d'Oro.