30. “Show Me Love” (1998)
Laboring under an uninspired English title (due in part to publications like Variety refusing to run advertisements for “Fucking Åmål,” its original title), Swedish director Lukas Moodysson nonetheless enjoyed his international breakthrough for this terrifically warm, well-observed lesbian love story. Bursting with compassion, the film doesn’t just minutely observe the burgeoning love affair between the popular Elin (Alexandra Dahlström) and the introverted, awkward Agnes (Rebecka Liljeberg), but also mines universal insights from the specific setting of Åmål, a small town in Sweden with a very recognizable, not particularly progressive set of small-town values. The two actresses are enchanting (Moodysson has always had a way with young performers, as 2013’s “We Are The Best!” also proved), and the film’s moral, about love being an escape to freedom even when it seems like a cage, is eternally applicable.
29. “10 Things I Hate About You” (1999)
The success of Baz Luhrmann’s “Romeo & Juliet” led to a run of Shakespeare-inspired teen movies across the late ’90s and early ’00s, ranging from the pretty good (“Midsummer Night’s Dream” riff “Get Over It” with Kirsten Dunst) to the… not very good at all (Amanda Bynes doing “Twelfth Night” in “She’s The Man”). But a definite peak was “10 Things I Hate About You,” Gil Junger’s utterly winning transposition of “The Taming Of The Shrew.” Somehow capturing the… problematic source material while still feeling genuinely feminist (thanks in part to the stand-out lead turns by Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles), it’s consistently funny, often very clever, and, at its best (like Ledger iconically singing Frankie Valli to woo Stiles), swooningly romantic.
28. “Breaking Away” (1979)
Another film that blends the coming-of-age tale and sports, “Breaking Away” focuses on Dave (Dennis Christopher), a 19-year-old Indiana native who finds new purpose when he and his friends (an impressively starry line-up of Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern and Jackie Earle Haley) take part in a grueling 50-mile bicycle race. There’s nothing particularly groundbreaking about the film, but it’s a warm, humane and affecting story, thanks to a funny and identifiable script by Steve Tesich (who won the Oscar for Best Screenplay for this film) and direction by veteran Peter Yates (“Bullitt“). While the film is somewhat undervalued these days, it’s certainly worth taking another look.
27. “Brick” (2005)
With Rian Johnson about to become a household name when his pet project “Star Wars: Episode VIII” bows next year, we get to grumble about knowing him way back when. But in his case, that’s only three films ago, with his terrifically inventive 2005 debut, “Brick.” The gumshoe-noir, teen movie mashup we didn’t know we wanted stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a school kid turned hardboiled detective when his ex-girlfriend’s body is found in storm drain. Executed with loving references to the films of the 1940s and ’50s, but also clever in its use of high school as a microcosm for a neo-noirish world of gangsters, crime rings and underworld nefariousness, it’s maybe even a little too tricksy for its own good at times, but it’s still a hugely witty, stylish and unique addition to the canon.
26. “Get Real” (1998)
Still a rarity in being a big-hearted, broadly-aimed teen movie centered mainly on a gay romance (and rarer still in that it was made in the U.K. at a time when the age of consent was still older for same-sex partners than it was for heterosexuals), “Get Real” has been forgotten by the mainstream by now, but remains a real charmer that captures the experience of being closeted at school better than almost anything. Adapted by Patrick Wilde from his play “What’s Wrong With Angry?” and directed by Simon Shore, it sees the young, bookish Steven (Ben Silverstone) falling for the school hunk (Brad Gorton), only to be surprised to find his attentions returned. It’s a bit rough around the edges (a slim budget definitely shows), but it’s warm, powerful and still fresh nearly 20 years on.
25. “Persepolis” (2008)
In some ways, being a teenager is the same everywhere. In others, it really isn’t, and Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud’s lovely animated adaptation of Satrapi’s graphic-novel memoir is so good at capturing both sides of this condition. Satrapi (Chiara Mastroianni) grows up amidst the late ’70s Iranian Revolution, becoming a spiky and rebellious heavy-metal and punk-loving teen, only to be sent away to be educated in Austria for her own safety. Witty, powerful and utterly distinctive in its high-contrast black-and-white animation (which brings in some color when she arrives in the West), it’s at once deeply personal in showing its protagonist’s struggles with her mental health and sexuality, and enormously political in its picture of a country under deep repression and tyranny.
24. “American Graffiti” (1973)
If his debut “THX-1138” announced a visionary, albeit one that might struggle to connect with a wider audience, George Lucas’ second film “American Graffiti” completed the other set of the equation that would lead to the unprecedented success of “Star Wars” — the nostalgia buff and humanist. Based on Lucas’ own adolescence in middle California, it’s set on the last day of summer vacation in 1962 and following a wide range of characters, including Ron Howard and Harrison Ford, but focusing particularly on Curt (Richard Dreyfuss), who’s about to leave for college but is having second thoughts. It’s a simple, all but plotless film in some ways, but it’s so heartfelt, well-executed and infused with such a sense of melancholy that the simplicity feels refreshing rather than familiar.
23. “Pariah” (2011)
Marking the arrival of three serious talents — director Dee Rees, star Adepero Oduye (most recently seen in “The Big Short”) and director of photography Bradford Young — “Pariah” remains almost perversely underseen today, but hopefully the success of “Moonlight,” which is in some respects similar in its poetic look at identity, will encourage more people to dig it out. Oduye plays Alike, a young African-American woman gradually embracing her sexuality and gender identity as she falls for a girl from the same church, Bina (Aasha Davis), and clashes with her parents. Subtle, sweet and, thanks to Young’s work, utterly gorgeous, it’s an unsentimental, unsparing, un-melodramatic look at coming out and first love that’s easily one of the best coming-of-age pictures of recent years.
22. “Pauline At The Beach” (1983)
The third of Eric Rohmer’s six “Comedies And Proverbs” cycle” — also including “The Aviator’s Wife,” “A Good Marriage,” “Full Moon In Paris,” “The Green Ray” and “My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend” — “Pauline At The Beach” is one of the most entertaining, quietly wise films that the director made in a career full of entertaining and quietly wise pictures. It sees teen Pauline (Amanda Langlet) join her cousin Marion (Arielle Dombasie) on vacation, and become quickly bewildered by the romantic entanglements that her older, already-divorced relative becomes involved in, while treating her own with a light touch. Rohmer treats the film similarly in a winning way, finding gentle comedy in Pauline’s maturity among the cloud of adult hormones, but never downplays the hurt at play either, leading to something that feels genuinely profound about human nature in the end.
21. “Ghost World” (2001)
There are quite a few films on this list that offer their own take on female teenage friendship, but none with quite the deadpan scowl and hilariously unimpressed monotone of Terry Zwigoff‘s brilliant “Ghost World.” Based on Daniel Clowes‘ cult graphic novel, it’s also one of the best-ever comic adaptations, as Zwigoff, aided by decidedly un-cute performances from Thora Birch and Scarlett Johansson, seems to innately understand the spirit of the source material without becoming beholden to it. Also featuring a great Steve Buscemi role that both uses his inherent creepiness and subverts it into something tragic and human, “Ghost World” is the kind of film that we wish we’d had more of growing up — a droll, funny/sad celebration of flying your freak flag with pride.