In literary theory, the Bildungsroman is a novel in which we witness the formation of an individual who undergoes a profound change due to knowledge gained through experience. Generally speaking, the protagonist in such works is a young member of society and the shift in consciousness that occurs during the story will transform them and hasten their advancement into adult understanding of the world in which they live. With Magic & Loss: Coming of Age Onscreen, we present a collection of films from around the globe intended to draw parallels between the literary convention of the Bildungsroman and the celebrated coming-of-age narrative as it exists in the cinema. Since coming-of-age stories are historically among the most commonly produced in the film industry of any country, our attempt is not intended to be viewed as a comprehensive overview, rather a concentrated journey through a theme as expressed by some of the greatest visionaries of the cinema.
A Day with the Boys
Directed by Clu Gulager
Winner of the Palme d’Or for Best Short Film at the 1970 Cannes Film Festival, actor Clu Gulager’s only directorial …
A Girl’s Own Story
Directed by Jane Campion
Beatlemania has taken hold of three Australian teenagers as they try to navigate the adult world they’re about to enter …
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Directed by Elia Kazan
Adapted from the much loved novel by Betsy Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn relays the story of a poverty …
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Directed by Benh Zeitlin
A deeply felt exploration of race and class in post-Katrina America filtered through the soaring fantasies and downcast reality of …
Bicycle Thieves
Directed by Vittorio De Sica
De Sica’s social drama, along with Roberto Rossellini’s Rome, Open City, is the most emotionally engaging film of the Italian …
Boyz n the Hood
Directed by John Singleton
Serving as an early ’90s clarion call to those unaware of how bad conditions of poverty, substance abuse, gang violence, …
Crooklyn
Directed by Spike Lee
Spike Lee’s sentimental remembrance of growing up in 1970s Brooklyn centers on a young girl named Troy (Zelda Harris) as …
Evolution
Directed by Lucile Hadžihalilović
After diving below the waves surrounding his coastal village, a young boy claims to have seen the body of another …
Fanny and Alexander
Directed by Ingmar Bergman
With his most pronounced cinematic meditation on childhood and memory, Ingmar Bergman abandons the expressionistic and existentially obsessive tendencies that …
Fish Tank
Directed by Andrea Arnold
With the arrival of her 2009 sophomore film, Academy Award-winning director Andrea Arnold (Red Road, American Honey) cemented herself as …
George Washington
Directed by David Gordon Green
Green’s debut feature masterfully captures the essence of childhood summers spent with kids your own age, free from parental supervision, …
Glory at Sea
Directed by Benh Zeitlin
The survivors of a flood construct a vessel with the help of a mysterious man. Together, they set out to …
Ivan’s Childhood
Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky
During World War II, young Ivan (Nikolay Burlyaev) scurries across Soviet and German lines, having been recruited as a spy …
Ratcatcher
Directed by Lynne Ramsay
Taking place during a 1970s garbage strike in Glasgow, Lynne Ramsay’s Ratcatcher follows young James (William Eadie) who lives in …
Show Me Love
Directed by Lukas Moodysson
Elin (Alexandra Dahlstrom) lives in the unremarkable small town Åmål, a fact over which she despairs to anyone who will …
The Black Stallion
Directed by Carroll Ballard
Nominated for two Academy Awards and the winner of a special achievement Oscar for sound editing, Carroll Ballard’s The Black …
The Grandmother
Directed by David Lynch
In this early short film by David Lynch, a young boy grows a grandmother in his bedroom.
The Learning Tree
Directed by Gordon Parks
Based on his own autobiographical novel, The Learning Tree was, according to Roger Ebert, the first non-exploitation feature film made …
The Reflecting Skin
Directed by Philip Ridley
Someone has been abducting and murdering children in a rural 1950s American town. Seth (Jeremy Cooper) and the other boys …
The Spirit of the Beehive
Directed by Victor Erice
A traveling roadshow of the film Frankenstein comes to the small, Franco-era village where eight-year-old Ana (Ana Torrent), her sister …
The Tree of Life
Directed by Terrence Malick
In what was only his fifth feature in almost 40 years, the reclusive director Terrence Malick sets the lives of …
The White Balloon
Directed by Jafar Panahi
Winner of the Camera D’Or and International Critics Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, Panahi’s first foray into narrative filmmaking, …
The White Ribbon
Directed by Michael Haneke
Something dire is transpiring just below the surface of a charming, pre-World War I German village. A horse and rider …
Walkabout
Directed by Nicholas Roeg
Abandoned by their father in the Australian Outback, a teenaged girl (Jenny Agutter) and her young brother (Luc Roeg) wander …