Coming-of-Age Drama movies

Vibe

Immersive Tense Steady Intimate Stylish

Overview

When a hip hop violinist busking in the New York subway encounters a classical dancer on scholarship at the Manhattan Conservatory of the Arts, sparks fly. With the help of a hip hop dance crew they must find a common ground while preparing for a competition that could change their lives forever.

Themes

Rivalry under pressure, Immigration and belonging, Scholarship vs merit, Economic barriers to training, Genre crossing collaboration, Discipline vs improvisation

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Vibe

Tense Bleak Deliberate Clinical Measured

Overview

11-year-old Nicolas lives with his mother in a seaside housing estate. The only place that ever sees any activity is the hospital. It is there that all the boys from the village are forced to undergo strange medical trials that attempt to disrupt the phases of evolution.

Themes

Power dynamics, Ethics of experimentation, Youth exploitation, Seaside isolation, Uncertainty and coercion, Medical authority

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Vibe

Realistic Tense Intimate Raw Bleak

Overview

Damien lives with his mother Marianne, a doctor, while his father, a pilot, is on a tour of duty abroad with the French military. At school, Damien is bullied by Thomas, who lives in the farming community up in the mountains. The boys find themselves living together when Marianne invites Thomas to come and stay with them while his mother is ill in hospital. Damien must learn to live with the boy who terrorized him.

Themes

Identity under pressure, Desire and boundaries, Bullying and resilience, Outsiders seeking belonging, Family disruption and care, Grief and rebuilding

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Vibe

Realistic Tense Intimate Raw Claustrophobic

Overview

Nathan, 16, lives alone with his father Stephane. A newcomer in high school, he is invited to a party and falls in love with Louis, a boy in his class. They find themselves out of sight and kiss each other, but someone takes a picture of them. Soon, the photo is published on Facebook and a storm overtakes their lives as they face bullying and rejection.

Themes

Identity concealment, Coming of age tension, Lgbt youth stigma, Family acceptance conflict, Bullying and repercussions, Social media shaming

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Vibe

Realistic Tense Claustrophobic Brutal Relentless

Overview

Based on the experiences of Agu, a child fighting in the civil war of a West African country. Follows Agu's journey as he's forced to join a group of soldiers. While he fears his commander and many of the men around him, his fledgling childhood has been brutally shattered by the war raging through his country, and he is at first torn between conflicting revulsion and fascination.

Themes

Loyalty under threat, Childhood under siege, Survival through violence, Dehumanization in war, Militia recruitment and coercion, Trauma and withdrawal

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Vibe

Playful Realistic Intimate Raw Atmospheric

Overview

Minnie Goetze is a 15-year-old aspiring comic-book artist, coming of age in the haze of the 1970s in San Francisco. Insatiably curious about the world around her, Minnie is a pretty typical teenage girl. Oh, except that she’s sleeping with her mother’s boyfriend.

Themes

Autonomy vs dependence, Age gap dynamics, Coming of age sexuality, Experimentation and boundary testing, Art as self expression, Bohemian domestic tension, Self-acceptance and independence

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Vibe

Tense Claustrophobic Atmospheric Dry Gritty

Overview

Malcolm is carefully surviving life in a tough neighborhood in Los Angeles while juggling college applications, academic interviews, and the SAT. A chance invitation to an underground party leads him into an adventure that could allow him to go from being a geek, to being dope, to ultimately being himself.

Themes

Trust under pressure, Deception and exploitation, Urban survival under pressure, Academic ambition under duress, Wealth temptation, Peer influence and risk

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Vibe

Realistic Dry Stylish Witty Intense

Overview

Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs back into his life dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge, he follows. After their all-nighter ends and a new day breaks, Quentin arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Quentin soon learns that there are clues, and they're for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer Quentin gets, the less he sees of the girl he thought he knew.

Themes

Group belonging and betrayal, Public image vs reality, Adolescent agency under risk, Deception and self-discovery, Peers pressure conformity

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Vibe

Realistic Intimate Claustrophobic Deliberate Relentless

Overview

In a Turkish village, five orphaned sisters live under strict rule while members of their family prepare their arranged marriages.

Themes

Arranged marriage pressure, Female agency under duress, Family surveillance and discipline, Abuse and power dynamics, Gender-based confinement, Escape as resistance

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Vibe

Playful Intimate Dry Witty Measured

Overview

A socially invisible senior hides in a bubble of parody films and closed bedroom doors, convinced distance keeps him safe. When his mother forces him to befriend a classmate with leukemia, his carefully built isolation cracks, and he scrambles to turn their awkward new bond into the one story he doesn’t know how to control.

Themes

Friendship under strain, Melancholy with humor, Coming of age under illness, Art as coping mechanism, Mortality awareness in youth, Selflessness vs self-interest

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