These are the teen rom-coms
that weren't directed by John Hughes. The adolescent gang flicks that aren't
the canonized STAND BY MEs of this world. Coming of age stories far
from the cult ALL ABOUT LILY CHOU CHOU. Here's a list of lesser known -
though wildly available - films, that in my eyes, get it right. And by right, I
mean that they are honest, sincere stories.
I should mention it is a
short list of just three films. I had some trouble in getting this ToM together
- technical and time issues - so I urge our readers even more so than usual,
please add to this in the comments.
The Adolescent Gang Flick: ZAPPA (1983) - Bille August
Denmark, 1961. One sees that date and country and must think, how sentimental, how quaint... and though ZAPPA's facade may seem as such - a trailer and regular group of publicity stills would have you believe it anyway - there is a seething, aggressive nature bristling just under the bright, cleanly facade of suburbia.
And because of this ZAPPA may sound like rather familiar territory. Three boys band together to form a gang; Sten, a rich kid neglected by his on-the-rocks parents, Bjorn, a middle class kid with an amiable family, and Mulle, a strong and eager to please boy whose family teeters on the lower class (per Scandinavian affluence... it would be considered middle class in many countries). Things start out just for laughs - photo booths and bums - but with the strike of Sten's match and that first puff on his cigarette, the rising smoke weaves an ominous sense of things to come.
In my mind ZAPPA is the quintessential teen angst story. It skids blindly down
the road leading out of childhood and into adulthood, with a lustful, spiraling
fever. As much as anger howls across the film's canvas, as always it is molded by the under-the-table hands of fear and confusion.
August's touch is far from rough though. The stellar Adam Tonebjorg's Bjorn (a
stand-in for a young August, perhaps?) is obviously caught in the middle of the
escalating bullying of Sten towards Mulle. At heart he is that "good"
child, the one who is allowed to stay out late because his parents don't think he could get into any trouble. Passive, an observer throughout much of the film, Bjorn sooner or later must take action. There are no tender moments in ZAPPA, though there are ones that will make you cry.
The Coming of Age Story: TWIST AND SHOUT (1984) - Bille August
Though I didn't get a chance
to see it again for the purposes of writing this article, I had to include it,
the first reason being...
Bjorn's current friend is
dutiful son Erik. He looks after his ailing mother as best he can. He is quiet and kind, courteous, and hesitant when in comes to
things beyond taking care of his family. The malicious ways of Sten are absent
from this film. Bjorn was never a hellion but is Erik's only outlet to the
outside world.
Bjorn and Kirsten are an
item. Kirsten's father is dropping hints to Bjorn about where he can buy a
cheap and good engagement ring. Formal dinner parties and dances, suits, and
all cutesy whispering...
Overwhelm the boy why don't
you? As stuffy adult ideals and rituals loom, escapism and first love arrive in
the form of the enigmatic Anna.
More well known than it's
predecessor (although I'm not sure how well known and regarded they both are in
Denmark...) August yet again sculpts a story that runs down a check list of
teenage rites of passage but makes it all feel like its happening for the first
time. There are some utterly harrowing sequences in this film in which I am in
awe of the young actors and their director.
Though ZAPPA was not a
tender film, TWIST AND SHOUT is certainly a poignant one.
The Teen Rom-Com: GREGORY'S GIRL (1981) - Bill Forsyth
It might not be all that appropriate to call this Scottish film a romantic comedy. In a lot of ways I feel that term undermines the goings on here.
And it might not be that under looked, as you have it showing up on BFI's 100 Best British films at #30 and on Entertainment Weekly's 50 Best High School Movies at # 29.
But I've never met anyone whose seen it (minus the folks I introduced it to) let alone heard of it, so for all intensive purposes here it is.
As righteously funny as the film is (right down to the unintentional "sitcom meets porn" music), it's one that never laughs at it's characters, or uses them for show.
Gregory's a 16-year-old who fumbles, trips, then hobbles through life, all the while with a goofy grin on his face. Like a puppy dog, he dutifully pines after Dorothy, the enigmatic girl who's replaced him on the football team.
Even his 11-year-old sister, Madeline, has more romantic experience.
In many American films, Gregory might be the kind of oddball regulated to loser sidekick, but in a film full of flighty and clueless young men, he's front and center. As it is with Madeline, the females of the film are the ones that come off as mature, resourceful and clever; Young women who have a steady hand on the rudder of life, and they know they'll just have to help guide the boy's along.
In turn the adults of the film are generally non-threatening, and the men just as inept as the boys. In this way there are no real antagonists to speak of, and the school community seems to be relatively (and refreshingly) unconcerned with social status. Students and staff mingle or clumsily spare, sometimes even flirt. Nearly everyone is relateable, everyone enduring.
Forsyth's film predates any of Hughes' teen tales by a few years, and though it isn't really reminiscent of the Hughsian view of the world - other than being awkwardly honest - I can't help but feel Hughes was influenced, or at least saw, Gregory's Girl. It is even more likely that when Paul Feig and Judd Apatow were prepping their short lived TV show Freaks and Geeks, they said to each other, "Hey do you remember this really charming Scottish film from the 80s?"
Obvious but understandable omissions (given their barely-or-not-at-all-in-print status): MADE IN HONG KONG and SPACKED OUT. MADE IN HONG KONG, in particular, is something that'll be seen as a classic of teen drama in a couple of decades... in the unlikely event that there are surviving copies of decent quality. SPACKED OUT isn't quite on that same level, but it's definitely well above the dismal norm for teen-themed drama. While MADE IN HONG KONG will age better (provided someone does something to save it from oblivion), I suspect both films will hold up over time - in content, anyway. The way things are looking, the films themselves might not be so lucky.
Also - It's been a while but I recall really liking THE VIRGIN SUICIDES. I doubt this film is in any danger of ceasing to exist.