Movies and TV Coming of Age

10 1/2 (2010) - Full Film with English Subtitles

Tommy, 10 years old, is well known by Social Services. He is considered a danger to society. Gilles, his guardian at this halfway house, sees potential for redemption in this kid driven by violence.

The 400 Blows (1959)

French coming-of-age drama film about a boy named Antoine Doinel growing up in Paris. Misunderstood by his parents for skipping school and stealing, and tormented in school...

Aanslag, De (The Assault - 1986) - Full Film with English Subtitles

A Dutch doctor, haunted by grueling childhood memories of World War II, struggles to find peace as he spends his life looking for answers about the tragic night that shaped him.

Afraid of the Dark (1991) - Full Film

A little boy, obsessed with blindness and violence, slowly gets trapped in his own delusions.

Almost Angels (1962) - Full Film

Despite his father's opinions, a working-class Austrian boy joins the Vienna Boys' Choir and proves to be unusually talented. However, the head chorister becomes jealous and will do everything in his power to ruin his rival's performance.

Ano em Que Meus Pais Saíram de Férias, O (The Year My Parents Went on Vacation - 2006) - Full Film with English Subtitles

A boy is left alone in a Jewish neighborhood in 1970, when the World Cup coincides with political crackdowns by the military dictatorship.

Aparajito (1956) - Full Film with English Subtitles

Following his father's death, a boy leaves home to study in Calcutta, while his mother must face a life alone.

Apt Pupil (1998) - Full Film

A boy blackmails his neighbor after suspecting him to be a Nazi war criminal.

Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001) - Full Film

A highly advanced robotic boy longs to become "real" so that he can regain the love of his human mother.

Barnens ö (Children's Island - 1980)

Reine lies to his mother about going to summer camp, instead staying unsupervised in Stockholm. The movie depicts his adventures and encounters around the city during summer break while his oblivious mother works.

Bad Words (2013) - Full Film

A friendship between an adult and a child competing in a spelling bee competition.

Beshkempir (The Adopted Son - 1998) - Full Film with English Subtitles

In a Kyrgyz village, five older women adopt an infant foundling. Jump ahead about 12 years: the boy, Beshkempir, is entering puberty, the age, his granny says, when life goes berserk. He plays with friends, horsing around, sniggering about sex, going to an outdoor movie.

The Black Stallion (1979) - Full Film

After being shipwrecked with a magnificent horse off the coast of Africa in the 1940s, a boy bonds with the stallion, and trains him to race after their rescue.

Brotherly (Short 2008) - Full Film

Based on a true story of two brothers in 1970s Ohio. It tells of their abandonment by their alcoholic parents and how the brothers turned to each other for support

The Blue Lagoon (1980) - Full Film

During the Victorian period (1837 to 1901), two preteen cousins (9 year old Richard and 6 year old Emmeline) are shipwrecked on a tropical island in the South Pacific and enjoy a simple life together until puberty complicates matters.

Boy (2010) - Full Film

Boy, an 11-year-old child and devout Michael Jackson fan who lives on the east coast of New Zealand in 1984, gets a chance to know his absentee criminal father, who has returned to find a bag of money he buried years ago.

The Butcher Boy (1997) - Full Film

The antisocial son of an alcoholic father and a bipolar mother grows up in 1960s Ireland.

Careful, He Might Hear You (1983) - Full Film

After his mother's death, PS lives with working-class aunt and uncle until posh Aunt Vanessa claims co-guardianship. Happy with his simple life, he struggles with her upper-class expectations and custody battle.

Central Station (1998) (Original title: Central do Brasil) - Full Film

The emotive journey of a former schoolteacher who writes letters for illiterate people, and a young boy whose mother has just died, as they search for the father he never knew.

The Children of Heaven (1997) - Full Film

After a boy loses his sister's pair of shoes, he goes on a series of adventures in order to find them. When he can't, he tries a new way to "win" a new pair.

The Climb (1997)

Chuck, a crusty old civic engineer, has an arsenal full of memories. With irreverent wit, he rattles on, in his irascible humorous style, burning his spicy stories into the imagination of a young neighbor kid Danny.

Clownhouse (1989) - Full Film

Just before Halloween, three young brothers alone in a big house are menaced by three escaped mental patients who have murdered some traveling circus clowns and taken their identities.

Crónica de un niño solo (Chronicle of a Boy Alone - 1965) - Full Film

Abandoned 11-year-old Polin sent to state orphanage, faces abuse by staff. Inmates plan escape amid adolescent struggles. When opportunity arises, Polin learns freedom's price.

The Cure (1995) - Full Film

Erik, a loner, finds a friend in Dexter, an eleven-year-old boy with AIDS. They vow to find a cure for AIDS together and save Dexter's life in an eventful summer.

Daddy (Orignal title "Entrusted" - Tv movie 2003) - Full Film

Hoping to entrap Maria von Gall, who runs a courageous underground railroad for Jews in France, the Germans kidnap her son Thomas, a brilliant 11-year-old chess master.

Dare mo shiranai (Nobody Knows - 2004)

In a small Tokyo apartment, twelve-year-old Akira must care for his younger siblings after their mother leaves them and shows no sign of returning.

D.A.R.Y.L. (1985) - Full Film

A seemingly normal young boy is found abandoned on a mountain road and adopted by a family who are increasingly amazed by his abilities before discovering the secret behind his real identity.

December Boys (2007) - Full Film

One summer, four orphan boys who have grown to be the closest of friends find themselves competing for the attention of the same family.

De Helaasheid der Dingen (The Misfortunates - 2009)

A thirty-something novelist and impending father looks back on his all-too-formative years in the hapless, alcohol-ridden milieu of his youth in 1980s rural Flanders, Belgium.

De Helaasheid der Dingen - Trailer (Linked via a disclaimer)

The Misfortunates - trailer

The Devil's Playground (1976) - Full Film

Period drama detailing a young boy's coming-of-age in a strict Catholic seminary in 1950s Australia.

Disconnect (2012) - Full Film

Strangers, neighbors, colleagues and their stories collide in this dramatic thriller about ordinary people struggling to connect in today's wired world.

Diskoli apocheretismi: O babas mou (Hard Goodbyes: My Father - 2002) - Full Film with English Subtitles

In 1969 Athens, a 10 year old boy struggles to come to terms with the sudden death of his father.

The Double McGuffin (1979) - Full Film

School kids accidentally stumble upon an assassination plot involving a briefcase and a body. Disbelieved by the police, they race against time to foil the conspiracy and bring the culprits to justice.

Double Parked (2000)

A resourceful and high-spirited woman deals with financial distress and her asthmatic thirteen-year-old son when his life is gravely complicated by a new friendship with the son of her former drunken and abusive husband.

Edges of the Lord (2001) - Full Film

A twelve-year-old Jewish boy hides with a family of Catholic peasant farmers to escape the Nazis.

Empire of the Sun (1987) - Full Film

A teenage English boy struggles to survive with his fellow captives under Japanese occupation of China during World War II.

Explorers (1985) - Full Film

A boy obsessed with '50s sci-fi movies about aliens has a recurring dream about a blueprint of some kind, which he draws for his inventor friend. With the help of a third kid, they follow it and build themselves a spaceship. Now what?

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011) - Full Film

Nine-year-old Oskar Schell is autistic and lives in New York City with his parents. He is close to his father, who stimulates him with missions to hunt for clues to New York City's "lost Sixth Borough".

Farewell My Concubine (1993) - Full Film with English Subtitles

Two boys meet at an opera training school in Peking in 1924. Their resulting friendship will span nearly 70 years and endure some of the most troublesome times in China's history.

Five Feet High and Rising (2000) - Full Film

Driven by prospects of love, Victor walks his neighborhood struggling to find his place in a world of dominance and empty promises.

Fresh (1994) - Full Film

Death and violence anger a twelve-year-old drug courier, who sets his employers against each other.

Germany Year Zero (1948) - Original title: Germania anno zero - Full Film with English Subtitles

A young German boy faces the problems of the tough life in the immediate post-WWII Berlin.

Goodnight Mommy (2015) - Full Film

Twin brothers arrive at their mother's house and begin to suspect that something isn't right.

A Home of Our Own (1975 Tv Movie) - Full Film

The story of Father William Wasson, who founded and operated a home for abandoned and orphaned children in Mexico.

Honkytonk Man (1982) - Full Film

A boy with a music talent goes on a journey with his uncle for a stage concert.

Come And See - Original title: Idi i smotri (1985) - Full Film with English Subtitles

After finding a rifle, a Belarusian teenager joins Soviet partisans in World War II and is swept into the harrowing realities of Nazi occupation.

I'm Not Scared Original title: Io non ho paura (2003)

A young boy accidentally discovers a deep hole in the ground, where another boy is kept prisoner.

Jack the Bear (1993) - Full Film

John Leary is a professional clown, whose wife's death in a car accident has left him to care for his two young boys.

Jet Boy (2001) - Full Film

A drug dealer finds an unlikely traveling companion in a runaway kid trying to dodge social services.

Josh and S.A.M. (1993) - Full Film

After their parent's divorce, 12-year-old Josh and 7-year-old Sam decide to go on an underage road trip. Sick of being ferried between their distant mother and remarried father, Josh and his brother steal a car and set out for Canada.

Judgment (1990) - Full Film

Fact-based story of a Louisiana priest accused of molesting young parishioners, and of the family of one of his victims, caught between their loyalty to their son and to their Church.

Just Like The Son (2006)

A petty thief's mentoring of an apparent orphan takes a profound turn when he kidnaps the boy from a foster home and drives him cross-country to his sister's house in Texas.

Just Looking (1999)

Finishing 8th grade in 1955 Bronx, sex-obsessed Lenny aims to see "the act of love" that summer at his aunt's in Queens where he makes friends, meets cute nurse Hedy, and learns a few things.

Ken Park (2002) - Full Film Censored

Ken Park is about several Californian skateboarders' lives and relationships with and without their parents.

Kids (1995) - Full Film

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

L'argent de poche (Small Change - 1976)

The lives of a motherless boy, who is just starting to get interested in women, and his physically abused friend, who lives in poverty, are mixed with more or less innocent childhood experiences and challenges of a number of children.

The Last Winter (1989) - Full Film

Young William resists family's decision to move from beloved rural farm to city, clinging to cherished life with imaginative Grampa Jack and cousin Kate, battling to preserve his idyllic childhood world from changing.

Leolo (1992) - Full Film

The story of a young Canadian boy who tries to escape mentally from his disturbed family thanks to his fantasy and imagination.

Little Buddha (1993) - Full Film

After the death of Lama Dorje, Tibetan Buddhist monks find three children - one American and two Nepalese - who may be the rebirth of their great teacher.

Little Man Tate (1991) - Full Film

A single mother raises a child prodigy on her own, struggling to give him every opportunity he needs to express his gift.

Lord of the Flies (1963) - Full Film

Schoolboys marooned on a Pacific island create their own savage civilization.

Lord of the Flies (1990) - Full Film

Stranded on an island, a group of schoolboys degenerate into savagery.

Luminous Motion (1998) - Full Film

A mom and her 10 year son motor around the country as she makes ends meet by turning tricks until her car breaks down. Then the kid's father shows up to try to take the two over.

Madame Sousatzka (1998) - Full Film

Renowned Russian piano teacher Irina Sousatzka gets a new student - Bengali piano prodigy Manek Sen. They are both immigrants in the UK and bond quickly. When his single mother Sushila's business fails, he must make a career decision.

Mon oncle Antoine (1971) - Full Film with English Subtitles

Set in cold rural Quebec at Christmas time, we follow the coming of age of a young boy and the life of his family which owns the town's general store and undertaking business.

Motorama (1991) - Full Film

A ten year-old boy runs away from his abusive parents, steals a Mustang, and pursues a promotional card game sold at gas stations.

Mud (2012) - Full Film

On a Mississippi River island, two young boys encounter a stranger who tells wild tales about bounty hunters and a beautiful woman.

My Dog Skip (2000) - Full Film

A shy boy grows up in 1940s Mississippi with the help of his beloved dog, Skip.

My Life as a Dog (1985) - Full Film with English Subtitles

In the late '50s, young Ingemar learns a lot about life and himself when he is sent away from his sick mother to live with his aunt and uncle in a town full of eccentrics.

My Name Is Ivan (1962) - Full Film with English Subtitles

During WWII, Soviet orphan Ivan Bondarev strikes up a friendship with three sympathetic Soviet officers while working as a scout behind the German lines.

Oliver Twist (2005) - Full Film

An adaptation of the classic Dickens tale, where an orphan meets a pickpocket on the streets of London. From there, he joins a household of boys who are trained to steal for their master.

Pelle the Conqueror (1987) - Full Film with English Subtitles

When his wife dies, Lasse takes his 12-year-old son, Pelle, from their home in Sweden to Denmark in search of a better life.

Peter Pan (2003) - Full Film

The Darling family children receive a visit from Peter Pan, who takes them to Never Never Land where an ongoing war with the evil Pirate Captain Hook is taking place.

Pixote (1980) - Full Film with English Subtitles

The life of a boy on the streets of Sao Paulo, involved with crimes, prostitution, and drugs.

Popi (1969)

A Puerto Rican widower concocts an extraordinary plan for making a better life for his two motherless sons.

Promises - Children of Israel Palestine (2001) - Full Film with English Subtitles

Several Jewish and Palestinian children are followed for three years and put in touch with each other, in this alternative look at the Jewish-Palestinian conflict.

The Reflecting Skin (1990) - Full Film

In the 1950s, a young boy living with his troublesome family in rural USA fantasizes that a neighboring widow is actually a vampire, responsible for a number of disappearances in the area.

Rich Kids (1979) - Full Film

Two 12-year-olds, the products of Upper-West-Side broken homes, struggle to make sense of their parents' lives and their own adolescent feelings.

Robby (1968) - Full Film

Shipwrecked on a tropical island, a young boy befriends an abandoned native youth, forcing him to reevaluate societal prejudice about race, religion and nudity.

Russkies (1987) - Full Film

A group of American boys and a shipwrecked Russian sailor become friends during the Cold War.

Saint Ralph (2004) - Full Film

Saint Ralph is the unlikely story of Ralph Walker, a ninth-grader who outran everyone's expectations except his own in his bold quest to win the 1954 Boston Marathon.

Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993) - Full Film

A prepubescent chess prodigy is encouraged to harden himself in order to become a champion like the famous but unlikable Bobby Fischer.

Simon Birch (1998) - Full Film

A young boy with stunted growth is convinced that God has a great purpose for him.

Sixty Six (2006) - Full Film

A boy's Bar mitzvah looks set to be a disaster when it coincides with the 1966 World Cup Final.

Skipped Parts (2000) - Full Film

An ungrounded young mother and her thoughtful teenage son are banished to a remote provincial town by her domineering father.

The Boy with Green Hair (1948) - Full Film

This parable looks at public reaction when the hair of an American war orphan mysteriously turns green.

The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys (2002) - Full Film

A group of Catholic school friends, after being caught drawing an obscene comic book, plan a heist that will outdo their previous prank and make them local legends.

The Rocking Horse Winner (1949) - Full Film

A young boy receives a rocking horse for Christmas and soon learns that he is able to pick the winning horse at the races.

The Squid and the Whale (2005) - Full Film

Follows two young boys dealing with their parents' divorce in Brooklyn in the 1980s.

This Boy's Life (1993) - Full Film

The story about the relationship between a rebellious 1950s teenager and his abusive stepfather, based on the memoirs of writer and literature Professor Tobias Wolff.

The Tin Drum (1979) - Full Film with English Subtitles

In 1924, Oskar Matzerath is born in the Free City of Danzig. At age three, he falls down a flight of stairs and stops growing. In 1939, World War II breaks out.

Tom Brown's Schooldays (2005) - Full Film

Drama about life at Rugby School in Victorian England. The headmaster is fair but not effective and life is brutal for the young boys because of bullying and its consequences.

Tom's Midnight Garden (1998) - Full Film

A young boy journeys across the boundaries of reality to a secret, haunted place, half-a-century back in time, in this tale of enchantment, shadows and lost memories.

Tout contre Léo (Close to Leo - 2002) - Full Film with English Subtitles

Leo, 21, tells his rural family that he is HIV-positive. They choose to hide it from 11-year-old Marcel. But Marcel senses something is wrong with his brother and, during a trip to Paris, confronts him about it.

Twelve and Holding (2005) - Full Film

After his twin brother is accidentally killed by vengeful bullies, a 12-year old boy and his friends face the harsh realities of death, teenage hormones, and family dysfunction.

Viva Cuba (2005) - Full Film with English Subtitles

The friendship between two children is threatened by their parents' differences.

Vor (The Thief - 1997) - Full Film with English Subtitles

A woman meets a man who isn't the right man for her - but she hasn't realised it yet...

Vozvrashcheniye (The Return - 2003) - Full Film with English Subtitles

In the Russian wilderness, two brothers face a range of new, conflicting emotions when their father - a man they know only through a single photograph - resurfaces.

Walkabout (1971) - Full Film

Two city-bred siblings are stranded in the Australian Outback, where they learn to survive with the aid of an Aboriginal boy on his "walkabout": a ritual separation from his tribe.

War of the Buttons (1994) - Full Film

Children from Irish villages engage in mischievous battles using humiliating tactics like cutting off buttons and underwear. They sometimes engage in nude conflicts leading to embarrassing encounters.

What the Peeper Saw (1972) - Full Film

A wealthy author's second wife begins to suspect that her 12-year-old stepson may have murdered his mother, who mysteriously died in a bathtub accident.

Whole New Thing (2005) - Full Film

After years of being home schooled by hippie parents, Emerson is enrolled at his local high school. The intelligent and androgynous youth confounds his classmates and captures the attention of his English teacher. The teacher-student relationship leads to problems for everyone involved.

Movies and TV: Coming of Age