Movies Similar to Puberty, Adolescence, the Difficult Age

Summer '04(2006)

Sommer ’04 is a character study of a family on vacation. German director Stefan Krohmer examines the emotional abyss and problems behind the seemingly nice facade of an intact family as they experience guilt, love and jealousy.

5.9

36 Fillette(1988)

Lili, a pouty and voluptuous 14-year-old, is caravan camping with her family in Biarritz. She's self-aware and holds her own in a café conversation with a concert pianist she meets, but she has a wild streak and she's testing her powers over men, finding that she doesn't always control her moods or actions, and she's impatient with being a virgin. She sets off with her brother to a disco, latching onto an aging playboy who is himself hot and cold to her. She is ambivalent about losing her virginity that night, willing the next, and determined by the third.

5.0

Read It and Weep(2006)

A young girl turns into an A-List celebrity over night when her private journal is accidently published and becomes a best-seller.

5.8

A Real Young Girl(1999)

Bored and restless, Alice spends much of her time lusting after Jim, a local sawmill worker. When not lusting after him, Alice fills the hours with such pursuits as writing her name on a mirror with vaginal secretions and wandering the fields with her underwear around her ankles. And, in true teenaged tradition, she spends a lot of time writing in her diary.

5.3

Small Change(1976)

Various experiences of childhood are seen in several sequences that take place in the small town of Thiers, France. Vignettes include a boy's awakening interest in girls, couples double-dating at the movies, brothers giving their friend a haircut, a boy dealing with an abusive home life, a baby and a cat sitting by an open window, a child telling a dirty joke, and a boy who develops a crush on his friend's mother.

7.2

The Tin Drum(1979)

Oskar Matzerath is a very unusual boy. Refusing to leave the womb until promised a tin drum by his mother, Agnes, Oskar is reluctant to enter a world he sees as filled with hypocrisy and injustice, and vows on his third birthday to never grow up. Miraculously, he gets his wish. As the Nazis rise to power in Danzig, Oskar wills himself to remain a child, beating his tin drum incessantly and screaming in protest at the chaos surrounding him.

6.9

Juno(2007)

Faced with an unplanned pregnancy, sixteen year old high-schooler, Juno MacGuff, makes an unusual decision regarding her unborn child.

7.1

It's a Jungle Out There(1995)

Anna, 17 years old, is happy to throw her first big birthday party without her parents, but some of her guests are so stoned that they leave a big chaos and, even worse, destroy the favorite record of Anna's father. After the return of her shocked and angry parents, Anna runs away to Munich with her admirer Simon. They discover the nightlife jungle and get to know some typical urban guys. Meanwhile, Anna's parents get in touch with Simon's and try to find their children. On the way across Munich, they remember their own wild and restless youth…

6.7

Persepolis(2007)

In 1970s Iran, Marjane 'Marji' Satrapi watches events through her young eyes and her idealistic family of a long dream being fulfilled of the hated Shah's defeat in the Iranian Revolution of 1979. However as Marji grows up, she witnesses first hand how the new Iran, now ruled by Islamic fundamentalists, has become a repressive tyranny on its own.

7.9

Beste Zeit(2007)

Kati drives the VW bus of her parents even without a license quite fast. But what else should one do in the Bavarian province? Kati and her best friend Jo keep asking themselves this question when they philosophize about God and the world with the tip in one hand and the beer in the other hand. After all, Kati's swarm Mike has just come back from the Bundeswehr, but while she dreams of the great love, he seems to take the matter far less seriously. And there's only stress with her dad.

6.3

Glue(2006)

A teenage summer in a small town in the desert, a dysfunctional family, a rock band, a can full of glue, two boys, one girl, loads of tongue kisses, dry heat, wind in Patagonia, existential angst... A teenage story in the middle of nowhere.

5.9

Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging(2008)

Georgia Nicolson is fourteen, lives with nosey parents who don't understand her, an annoying three year old sister and has to wear a beret to school. She would, however, rather be blonde, have a smaller nose and a boyfriend. Revolving around her hilarious journal entries, prepare to be engulfed in the world of the soaring joys and bottomless angst of being a teenager.

6.5

Riding in Cars with Boys(2001)

In 1965, a young woman with dreams of becoming a writer has a son at the age of 15 and struggles to make things work with the drug-addicted father.

6.8

Engel & Joe(2001)

A love story of a 17 year old punk-rocker and a 15 year old runaway girl.

6.3

Stick It(2006)

Haley is a naturally gifted athlete but, with her social behavior, the teen seems intent on squandering her abilities. After a final brush with the law, a judge sentences her to an elite gymnastics academy run by a legendary, hard-nosed coach. Once there, Haley's rebellious attitude wins her both friends and enemies.

6.8

Towelhead(2008)

A young Arab-American girl struggles with her sexual obsession, a bigoted Army reservist, and her strict father during the Gulf War.

6.2

Vergiss Amerika(2000)

Two friends fall in love with the same girl and end up in a situation that can only make everyone unhappy. In Forget America, it is also reinforced by the setting, a small East German town. Life in Aschleben is difficult enough in itself for David, who would like to be a famous photographer, for Benno, who desperately wants to open an American road cruiser store in his dreary hometown, and for Anna, who dreams of a career as an actress, but it is their feelings for each other that rob them of practically any chance of a little happiness.

5.2

Kids(1995)

A day in the life of a group of teens as they travel around New York City skating, drinking, smoking and deflowering virgins.

6.9

Crazy(2000)

Benjamin, a 16-year-old with lousy grades, switches to a boarding school in order to eventually reach grammar school. Adjusting to his new environment is difficult as he has to struggle with being a teen... specially when he falls in love to the school's dream girl, Malen.

6.3

The Craft(1996)

A Catholic school newcomer falls in with a clique of teen witches who wield their powers against all who dare to cross them -- be they teachers, rivals or meddlesome parents.

6.8