Summer Rebels (2020)
Featuring a simple, lighthearted story, the 2020 film Summer Rebels has all the right ingredients to deliver an enjoyable experience in front of the screen. Curiously enough, the straightforwardness of the plot is what wins the viewer over.
It’s a story revolving around eleven-year-old Jonas (Elias Vyskocil) and his adventures during an unusual summer vacation. The boy is used to spending his holidays in Slovakia, with his father and grandfather, enjoying rafting and fishing in the local river.
But everything changed when his father died. The family moves to Germany, and Jonas’s mother is not enthusiastic about letting her son spend a Slovakian vacation. Determined to enjoy the summer, the boy rebels and runs away from home, catching a train to his beloved grandad. Upon arrival, however, Jonas finds that things have also changed there.
An exceptional casting
Much of the film’s appeal is due to its exceptional casting. Elias Vyskocil, as Jonas, is present in just about every scene. His cheeky expressions (often emphasized with long close-up shots), boyish smirks, and ability to portray a wide range of emotions significantly boost his character’s sympathy factor. His sidekick Alex, a tomboyish girl, played by Liana Pavlikova, is equally talented. While her role is a supporting one, the interaction between the two is a joy to watch. That interaction establishes friendship as one of the prominent motifs of the narrative.
The musical score
The musical score is another strong point of the film as it sets a real brisk and fun tone with a unique selection of songs that have lyrics matching the events on-screen (mainly in English and German).
With its first-rate cinematography characterized by vivid colors, great framing, and modern editing techniques, the filmmakers have captured the essence of childhood and summer adventures.
An easy-going children’s film
Summer Rebels is essentially an easy-going children’s film, without much drama or manipulative emotions tied to its story. Per se, a few things could have been better explored – such as a potential romance (as first-love is so frequently addressed in Coming-of-Age cinema) or the relationship between Jonas and his late father. Yet it is also possible that the film manages to keep the lightness of its narrative precisely because the story remains vague — just a simple but heartwarming summer adventure.
Trailer for Summer Rebels (2020)
The Pee-Wee 3D: The Winter That Changed My Life (2012)
Eric Tessier‘s 2012 French Canadian film The Pee-Wee 3D: The Winter That Changed My Life (2012) is an inspirational sport themed Coming-of-Age film. It follows the story of Janeau Trudel (Antoine Olivier Pilon), a 12-year-old hockey prodigy who moves to a new city with his dad following his mother’s tragic death. Janeau meets the overly confident and determined Julie (Alice Morel-Michaud), who convinces him to join the local junior hockey in which she is a goalie.
Unfortunately, some of the kids on the team do not view Janeau’s arrival in a positive light, for his skills threaten to outshine their own. Janeau has a hard time being accepted by the team, especially by its captain Joey, who is under constant pressure from his father to lead the team and be the best player at all costs. When the team qualifies for the Quebec Pee-Wee hockey tournament, the stakes are raised even higher.
The filmmakers behind The Pee-Wee 3D: The Winter That Changed My Life aspired to make a moral statement. They managed to achieve that in a manner that is equally compelling to viewers of all age groups, from believing in oneself through the importance of teamwork to achieve common goals while making the necessary compromises and putting aside bad feelings. The Pee-Wee 3D: The Winter That Changed My Life is a sports-oriented flick, and as such, it shares some of the typical traits of Coming-of-Age sports films – it is motivating and reasonably predictable.
There are humorous exchanges between the characters at times, but unlike films such as Kicking And Screaming and Carlitos and the Chance of a Lifetime, which feature more comic relief, the story in this film contains more dramatic overtones.
While the action scenes on the ice (at least one-third of the film’s scenes show the kids playing hockey) are refreshingly vibrant, the story also addresses themes such as overambitious parents, dealing with one’s loss of a loved person, friendship, jealousy, and others one would expect from a Coming-of-Age narrative.
The young cast of the film is good across the board as the acting is convincing and credible both on the ice and off it. The characters are dynamic, deeply affected, and influenced by the action of the plot and the variety of conflicts (both internal and external) they must address and resolve.
Although there is a central character (and an excellent supporting one – by the only girl on the team played admirably well by Alice Morel-Michaud), one doesn’t identify with the players on an individual level, but rather sympathizes with the teammates as a whole. It’s an ensemble casting done right, enabling viewers of all ages to sense the team spirit acutely. There is a nostalgic tinge taking me back beside my teammates from the high-school Cross Country and Triathlon teams.
Predominately the filmmakers use a subjective point of view by having the camera participate in the action. Examples are scenes with close-ups on the eyes and those that are dynamic and filled with energy, often with the hockey puck seen flying straight at the viewer. The visual rhythm of the film is fitting with a theme that is vibrant and modern using montage techniques that emphasize the tension and energy of the action on the screen. Additional camera techniques that are utilized to empathize intense moments or emotions are slow motion and extreme close-ups.
The musical score includes a variety of energetic pop songs enhancing the action. Simultaneously, the sound effects of arena noises and cheering crowds make one feel the competitive nature of hockey as a sport.
The Pee-Wee 3D: The Winter That Changed My Life offers a glimpse into the world of junior hockey but, thanks to its universal messages, one doesn’t have to be an aficionado of this particular sport to enjoy its story. In fact, the film’s story is going to be adapted in France with Handball instead of Hockey — showing the universal nature of the plot.
Although the story is predictable and contains clichés (such as having a Russian hockey team as the ultimate sports rival), the film is guaranteed to engage young and older audiences alike.
It is available for free (with English subtitles) for Amazon Prime members at Amazon Video.
Trailer
The Perfect Game (2009)
The Perfect Game follows the story of a group of boys from the small industrial town of Monterrey, Mexico. They dream big of travelling to America and playing in the Little League World Series (baseball) one day. When a former employee of the St. Louis Cardinals moves back home to Monterrey, the boys attempt to enlist him as their coach for Monterrey’s first Little League team.
As a story, this has got to be one of the best underdog sports stories of all time.
Brothers (2015)
Interpersonal relationships can be complicated, even if they are between siblings. Robert Eggers‘s 2015 short film Brothers manages to turn a conflictive family relationship into an atmospheric Coming-of-Age drama. The story’s tension rises in a slow yet consistent manner as one observes the interaction between the two brothers and their autocratic grandmother.
Shot on location in the rural New Hampshire woods, the film features a convincing and natural performance by the young actors in the lead roles: Ethan Sailor and Griffin Fox-Smith. Aided by competent editing, the actors’ physical appearance sketches their inner worlds’ complexity, focusing on the various ways in which the older brother attempts to suppress his younger sibling. While expected, the climax is poignant enough, although the final scene may raise some questions in the viewer’s minds.
http://youtu.be/SOerrMKjL-A
Zizotek (2019)
Depression, abandonment, and compassion are the main themes of Vardis Marinakis‘s film Zizotec. Visualizing unorthodox childhood experiences could have turned the film into a splendid Coming-of-Age tale had the filmmakers managed to combine the superb acting of the cast with a better-written script. What starts as a family drama morphs into a fairy-tale-like story by the final scene – making the whole story feel like a prequel of another film.
Abandoned by his mother (Penelope Tsilika), a nine-year-old boy (August Lambrou-Negrepontis) called Jason wanders around the forest near the Greek-Bulgarian border until he discovers an empty, isolated hut. The boy finds refuge inside of it. When the hut’s owner, an old mute loner called Minas (Dimitris Xanthopoulos), returns to his property, he is not thrilled to find the young guest. One would expect him to call the police – but he doesn’t. Soon it becomes clear that Minas has a rather edgy rapport with the law as he helps migrants illegally cross the border. The boy and the loner develop a father-son relationship that they both need and embark on a journey that takes an unexpected turn.
The story develops at a slow pace and, unfortunately, is not coherent. That’s because the general characterization is weak, leaving the viewers clueless about the motives behind the actions of just about everyone. It never becomes clear why Jason’s mother abandons him nor what her fate is after that horrid decision, aside from a brief scene in which Minas find her servicing a customer in what appears to be a brothel.
Young August Lambrou-Negrepontis portrays his character with naturalness and sincerity that one could only expect to witness in the acting of newcomers so typical for Coming-of-Age films as a genre. The camera makes sure that the young actor’s beauty is emphasized, for this quality is transferred to the film itself — convincing the audience that the cinematography and overall picture is pleasing to look at. Yet his role in the film follows the well-established tradition of kids finding affection and understanding outside their homes after an act of betrayal from the people closest to them. This reminds me of the 1993 American dramas: The Man Without a Face Book and A Perfect World.
Zizotec‘s story features motifs one expects to find in a Coming-in-Age themed film, but it’s tough to connect the dots and explain the ending, which, while original and thrilling, does not really connect with the story already shown unless one is to consider it as allegory or metaphor.
[imdb]https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6793878/reference[/imdb]
Little Big Voice (2015)
Little Big Voice is set in Austria in 1955. It’s a moving story of a ten-year-old boy, Ben (Wainde Wane), who, after his mother’s death, tries to fulfill his dreams in post-war Europe – in the face of many obstacles.
This film’s biggest flaw is its plot. It is overly unrealistic and staged, with most events subordinate to the feel-good emotional response the filmmakers aimed to achieve. Universal themes such as acceptance, determination, and friendship are addressed, but in a fairy tale manner, making the film suitable for family viewing. Still, it’s likely to offend audiences with tastes for more credible dramatic narratives.
Little Big Voice shares some of the same messages that one finds in Stephen Daldry‘s Coming-of-Age classic Billy Elliot. But it’s possible that because Little Big Voice was made for TV (and likely with a distinct target group in mind), that predetermined how the story is told. So while Stephen Daldry handled emotional material with restraint, it is the lack of that which greatly affects the story’s credibility in Little Big Voice.
The Vienna Boys Choir is a name that is guaranteed to inspire interest in the film by many treble music enthusiasts. Yet, unlike films such as the 1962 Disney production of Almost Angels or Christophe Barratier’s Les Choristes (The Chorus), the music and the choir in Little Big Voice take on the role of being a backdrop for a story of a boy looking for his father. On the positive side, the story is not rehashing scenes and events from those classics but has some of its own originality.
When it comes to acting – most of the actors manage to perform in a manner that creates wholesome characters, each with a backstory of their own. Character-based narratives are familiar in the Coming-of-Age genre, but not so in Little Big Voice unless one is willing to accept a multicharacter approach. The young Wainde Wane in the lead role performs well but does not leave a long-lasting impression on the viewer.
Take my review with a grain of salt, knowing that I am the kind of person who will always opt for a harsh, dramatic narrative. Yet, as a whole, Little Big Voice is not a bad film and deserves a chance to be discovered and seen. Credible or not, the story is interesting enough to transfer the viewer to a better world in which a happy ending is a must. If you are looking for positivity in these troubled times, a film like Little Big Voice delivers.
Trailer
[imdb]https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4884034/reference[/imdb]
