Tonight I watched two movies with my dad – one he wanted me to see and another one that I wanted him to see. His movie was The Bucket List . It was a nice story about the last moments in the lives of two different men, who dying of cancer. After meeting in a hospital room, they became friends and decided to fulfill their life goals.
While the movie was fine I did not really share the enthusiasm that my had father about it. I just could not relate to the characters.
Then it was my turn and I put the Edges of the Lord DVD in the player. I won’t go into much detail about it, as I will soon write a separate review about it. But when the final credits rolled my father said that he liked it.
The two movies tonight made me realize why I am fond of coming-of-age movies; much more than any other genre. As you know, in coming-of-age movies the central plot revolves around a person suddenly facing a life-changing experience, trial, or tribulation. That person once was naive or childish and is now suddenly older and wiser because of the experience. While watching movies from this genre it is not hard for me to associate with the characters portrayed there. I am still preparing to embrace the world out there, without some of my naive beliefs.
During the process of growing, I made mistakes and naturally learn from them. I still feel that there is so much to be seen and learned. That is probably the reason why I associate with the characters on screen allow myself to go deeper into the story and gain something for myself. The same reasoning probably explains why I am so into the stories and movies of Stephen King. It’s the way he writes, describing the feelings of his characters so well that I almost believe I was them. I have been afraid of the dark since I was 6 and still am. You can imagine how I feel when reading the thoughts of Johnny in his book IT.
This is not to say that I don’t enjoy movies from other genres. But “The Bucket List”, for example, was for two old men evaluating their life. This is too far away for me to consider it as my story.