Beautifully shot and immaculately acted, Jon Jones‘s 2018 film Last Summer relates the tale of four young boys whose lives change forever when a horrific tragedy uproots their childlike innocence.
The opening introduces the characters by placing them in a typical juvenile environment (a group of friends goofing off on a lazy summer day), followed by surprising and heart-wrenching twists of fate. Yet, just as one gets involved with the story, it soon loses its edge.
The film’s stylistic and overall emotional atmosphere reminds me of Rob Reiner‘s classic Coming-of-Age film Stand by Me. That both films share common themes is evident from Last Summer’s poignant and accurate tagline: “The end of innocence, the beginning of a true friendship.”
Unfortunately, I found that it also suffers from the same loose and discursive plot structure I have highlighted as an issue in my review of the similarly themed Hide Your Smiling Faces (Directed by Daniel Patrick). Thankfully, the scenes in Last Summer retain some of their dramatics due to the musical score and the poignant performances of its actors.

The film’s casting serves as a prime redeeming factor of its plot imperfections. The child actors all make their debuts in the film. Despite their lack of experience (or quite possibly because of it), they deliver natural performances characterized by a poignant intimacy.
Official Trailer
The vulnerability of their characters is seen (and felt) throughout the film. This is especially true for the role of Davie. Casting Noa Thomas to portray his character is a wise choice. Despite his boyish look, his voice has started to change – giving him a unique timbre that further enhances the tender boundary between childhood and adulthood.
Last Summer possesses the unique charm of independent Coming-of-Age cinema and, while not perfect, won’t make you regret the time invested in watching it.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt7406704/









Refreshing and fun, Adam Vincent Wright‘s 2018 short film, with the peculiar title Timmy Slays the Talent Show, is the perfect flick for the Tumblr/YouTube generation.
Australian cinema has traditions when it comes to the short film format, with many titles belonging to the Coming-of-Age genre. Stacie Howarth‘s Jackrabbit (2013) is such a film.
Beautifully shot, Song Huang‘s short film Aloud captivates with its sentimental storyline, tender treble score, and competent acting performances. The protagonist of the 2016 character-driven drama is 12 year old Arden (Jonah Beres) who, in the tradition of the best Coming-of-Age narratives, will face challenges and tribulations on the way to self-discovery.

In 1947 Brooklyn, 11 year old Michael Devlin (Peter Tambakis) and his friends are having a blast at the movies. Raised by his caring and high-spirited mother (Lolita Davidovich), Michael shares his friends’ passion for comics and superheroes and serves as an altar boy in the nearby cathedral. Life is good, but an unfortunate turn of events makes the boy an unwilling witness to a brutal assault when he and his friends stop by a Jewish store to get some hot dogs. The store owner gets beaten almost to death by a local thug by the name of Frankie McCarthy (Adam MacDonald).

Michael’s father died in the war, and while his mother is trying her best to raise her son, the boy is eagerly looking for a role model, a wise man he can emulate and the Rabbi is a good fit in that role. An unlikely friendship it might be, but soon the Rabbi and Michael become real friends. That association convinces Frankie McCarthy that the boy has ratted on him, and soon Michael and everyone he knows find themselves in mortal peril.









The script and the storytelling are just as important as the acting or editing of a film. That is true for any movie, including those belonging to the Coming-of-Age genre. As proof of that, you don’t have to look much further than the Swedish drama Before the Storm (original title: Före stormen) — in which two life stories tangle together resulting in a captivating and engaging narrative that won’t leave anyone indifferent. 







It’s that time of the year again — when scary movies are all the rage — helping us to get in the mood for Halloween.



Some of the best Coming-of-Age movie stories are adapted to the screen to make the viewer feel the same enjoyment as if reading an engaging novel. That’s the case with the 1993 film adaptation of Neil Simon’s Lost in Yonkers.


