Spring is finally here with warming weather, daily drizzles and budding seeds. And, as we slowly see the horizon of the end of the pandemic, we are in a bright spot in time of new beginnings, fresh starts and big changes.
Seishun, a Japanese term meaning "blue spring," refers to the "springtime of youth": blissful time in adolescence where feelings of love, friendship and freedom are bountiful. That's why this month, Films We Like is celebrating this springtime change with our theme, Days of Youth, featuring films that allow us to relive (the best parts) of our childhood, adolescence, and everything in between.
Days of Youth
Little Birds (2011)
Little Birds is a vulnerable and raw film full of teen emotion, and the quintessential film to start off our youth collection. A restless teenager, 15-year-old Lily convinces her best friend to head to Los Angeles in a stolen car, where she hopes to find the skateboarder with whom she experienced her first kiss. About the film, director Elgin James has said, "my goal is to take the wreckage of my life and turn it into something beautiful."
Weirdos (2016)
Bruce McDonald's 2016 road movie Weirdos is set in 1976 Nova Scotia, the weekend of the American Bicentennial. Living under a repressive household, Kit decides to hit the road to move in with his mother. Accompanied by his girlfriend Alice, Kit explores his very core - his sexuality, his sense of place and self - in an attempt to find a place to call home. A charming, offbeat and authentic slice of nostalgia and adolescence.
Hockey Night (1984)
The 4K-restored '80s TV movie Hockey Night is "enthusiastically Canadian" in its approach: not only does it celebrate the joys of youth, but also, the struggles of small-town politics and of triumph over the expectations and pressures of the adult world. A young Megan Follows plays Cathy, the only girl on her hockey team in small-town Ontario who struggles to let herself be known.
The Wonders (2014)
Set in Rural Italy, Italian director Alice Rohrwacher captures a conflicted 12-year-old Gelsomina’s summer straddling childhood and maturity, helping out her overprotective father, a beekeeper, and her three younger sisters, in The Wonders. The designated heir of the strange, secluded kingdom that her father constructed around them to protect his family from "the end of the world," Gelsomina is bright and fearless.
In the Moment (2008)
On the surface, In the Moment is a documentary about six improv teams at the 30th Canadian Improv Games. But shot through the candid perspectives of the participants themselves, at practices and team sleepovers, this doc is less about improv, and a candid look of what it's like to be a teenager in the modern day.
God Help the Girl (2014)
Belle & Sebastian's own Stuart Murdoch directs and writes God Help the Girl, a musical indie flick starring Emily Browning, an emotional young musician looking to break into the pop scene. With a playfulness that harkens back to French new wave cinema, God Help the Girl sees adolescence for all it is: awkwardness, arrogance and all.
Fort Tilden (2014)
Fort Tilden brings us to New York City with two millennial Brooklynites who, on the cusp of a transitional period between adolescence and adulthood, "neither know where they're going nor how they plan to get there." Lost on a needlessly complicated journey to the beach, Fort Tilden brings us to the end of adolescence and all the uncertainties that lie in wait for us there, all with wit and humour.
Inventing Tomorrow (2019)
Laura Nix's documentary Inventing Tomorrow brings us not to the past of youth, but to the future, as six teenaged scientists from Indonesia, Hawaii, India and Mexico confront our biggest issue to date: environmental change, at the 2017 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). Along the way, the documentary also explores the emotional and aspirational journeys of these adolescents as they find solutions for a better world tomorrow.
FWL’s #DaysOfYouth COLLECTION
Find out where to watch all of these titles in our #DaysOfYouth collection.
About Films We Like
Founded by award-winning documentary filmmaker Ron Mann (Grass, Comic Book Confidential, Carmine Street Guitars) Films We Like is a boutique distributor of documentary, independent, and international films in Canada. Recent releases include Drive My Car, Intregalde and Hit the Road.