10 Best Coming-of-Age Films About Youth, Friendship and Self-Discovery

These ten films have become modern classics. Their creators approached the experience of growing up from different angles, offering adolescents ways to better understand themselves, their families and the world — and giving parents a window into their children’s inner lives. Dark, surreal and mythic rites of passage Donnie Darko (dir. Richard Kelly, 2001) High-schooler Donnie Darko encounters a man in a rabbit costume who tells him the exact date and time of the end of the world. The revelation warps Donnie’s perception: personalities sharpen, emotions intensify, truth seems closer and the world’s lies and ugliness stand out. Richard Kelly’s darkly fantastic drama flopped at the box office but became a DVD cult hit. Its genre-bending, philosophical core wrapped in magical realism recalls David Lynch and Jim Jarmusch — if they made films about teenagers. Rebellion, mentorship and the cost of conformity Dead Poets Society (dir. Peter Weir, 1989) At the strict private school Welton, tradition, honor, discipline and excellence are preached — but seven boys nickname the place “Hellton” and invent their own irreverent creed. Their lives change when an unorthodox teacher, John Keating (Robin Williams), arrives. Keating’s lesson on mortality and his revival of the long-dead literary club “The Dead Poets Society” ignite a romantic, rebellious spirit that challenges conformity and reshapes young lives.