The animated film Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood premiered on Netflix on April 1. The film is directed by Richard Linklater, who directed the coming of age drama film Boyhood and features the voices of Glen Powell, Jack Black, Zachary Levi, and Josh Wiggins. The film follows the fictional story of a 10-year-old who becomes part of a very big space mission of landing on the moon. The story is narrated from his adult self’s perspective as he looks back to his childhood set before the Apollo 11 landing. It is loosely based on Richard Linklater’s childhood. The film received generally positive reviews from critics and in a review published by The New Yorker, they wrote, “Along with its passionate emphasis on the power of observation and memory, the movie’s blend of autobiography and fantasy also defines and expands the very notion of experience. Apollo 10 1/2 unites the inner and outer life in a form of cultural autobiography, and it does so with a unique sense of cinematic style and form.” If you want to see movies with similar themes as Apollo 10 1/2, here are our recommendations.
Only Yesterday
A film that beautifully captures nostalgia is the 1991 Japanese animated drama film Only Yesterday, written and directed by Isao Takahata, based on the 1982 manga of the same. It was animated by the acclaimed Japanese animation studio, Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten, Nippon Television Network, and Hakuhodo, and distributed by Toho. The film follows career woman Taeko Okajima who travels to the countryside to visit her sister’s family. As she travels and spends her time there during the safflower harvest, she looks back to her childhood and reflects on her life. The film centers on themes of nostalgia and adulting that many women experience. The film received critical acclaim and became the highest-grossing Japanese film of 1991 in the country. It has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and with a critics consensus saying, “Only Yesterday’s long-delayed U.S. debut fills a frustrating gap for American Ghibli fans while offering further proof of the studio’s incredibly consistent commitment to quality.” In a review by The Verge, they praised the film’s ability to elicit nostalgia saying, “The depictions of seemingly trivial childhood occurrences, like munching your way through a disappointing meal or getting caught in a whirlwind of schoolyard gossip, are so keenly observed that it’s hard to watch Only Yesterday without memories of your own flooding back.”
Now and Then
Just like Apollo 10 1/2, the coming-of-age film Now and Then centers on early recollections and is set in the 1970s. The film centers on the friendship of four women as they recount a summer they shared as teens in the year 1970. The film was directed by Lesli Linka Glatter and starred Christina Ricci, Rosie O’Donnell, Thora Birch, Melanie Griffith, Gaby Hoffmann, Demi Moore, Ashleigh Aston Moore, Rita Wilson, Hank Azaria, Janeane Garofalo, Cloris Leachman, and Bonnie Hunt. The film received relatively positive reviews and the review published by New York Times noted how the film was instrumental to some of the new generation of other coming-of-age films. They wrote, “In 2020, the influence of “Now and Then” can be detected in pop culture in other ways. Without it, it’s possible that “Booksmart,” “Eighth Grade” and “Lady Bird” might not have seen critical success. Further, coming-of-age movies for girls now even seem like a popular trope. At its core, “Now and Then” was about the intensity of female friendship and the discomfort of growing up — realities that we all know but were finally acknowledged onscreen.”
The Kings of Summer
Another coming-of-age film worth watching is the comedy-drama film The Kings of Summer, directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts and starring Nick Robinson, Moisés Arias, Gabriel Basso, and Nick Offerman. It follows the story of three adolescent boys who decide to run away and build a house in the woods where they could live together away from their families. With their pursuit of independence, their friendship also gets tested. Common Sense Media reviewed the film and commended the performances of the lead actors saying, “The casting and performances are faultless, and the three young leads make a terrific comedy trio together, generating a specific, unique chemistry. The Kings of Summer could become a young person’s classic, destined to be rediscovered by subsequent generations.”
Cinema Paradiso
The 1988 coming-of-age drama film Cinema Paradiso (New Paradise Cinema) written and directed by Giuseppe Tornatore follows a young boy named Salvatore who discovers his love for film through the town’s Cinema Paradiso movie house and its projectionist Alfredo whom he forms a friendship with. The Italian-French co-production stars Philippe Noiret, Jacques Perrin, Leopoldo Trieste, Marco Leonardi, Agnese Nano and Salvatore Cascio. The film received critical acclaim and won several awards including Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards and Grand Prix award. at Cannes Film Festival. It was also nominated for 11 BAFTA Awards and won five; including Best Actor (Philippe Noiret), Best Supporting Actor (Salvatore Cascio), Best Original Screenplay, and Best Foreign Language Film. Reelviews reviewed the film and wrote, “Cinema Paradiso is the kind of motion picture that can brighten up a gloomy day and bring a smile to the lips of the most taciturn individual. Light and romantic, this fantasy is tinged with just enough realism to make us believe in its magic, even as we are enraptured by its spell.”
Son of Rambow
A light-hearted film that has a similar tone to Apollo 10 1/2 is the comedy film Son of Rambow, written and directed by Garth Jennings and inspired by the action film First Blood starring Sylvester Stallone as Vietnam war veteran John J. Rambo. Son of Rambow is set during Margaret Thatcher’s tumultuous era and centers on two young boys who spend their summer trying to make a movie inspired by First Blood. The film stars Bill Milner, Will Poulter, Jules Sitruk, Jessica Hynes, Neil Dudgeon, Anna Wing, Ed Westwick, Eric Sykes, and Chris Miles. The Guardian described the film’s take on coming-of-age themes saying, “Without ceasing to be funny, Son of Rambow becomes quite serious for a while and lurches into something like melodrama. But it avoids the kind of sentimentality and triumphalism that might be found in an American treatment of the same subject and ends on a note of happiness and reconciliation in the same cinema where it began.”
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