Now Playing at AFS: Stories About Growing Up

We are never done finding ourselves. Whether consciously pursued or pieced together in the aftermath of something meaningful, evidence of growth makes us feel more human. 

Ideas about what makes us whole are subjective, constantly evolving, and shaped by circumstances beyond the scope of our personal narratives. 

For years, films have explored coming-of-age stories, relationship dramas, and other narratives that grasp at what it means to be human. There are a few great examples in these categories of storytelling currently playing in the Austin Film Society virtual cinema.

FOURTEEN

(2019) dir. Dan Sallitt

Many of life’s most pivotal moments are unannounced. They quietly shape the decisions, coping mechanisms, and rationalizations we carry. The title Fourteen conjures the tremendous influence of a person’s teenage years on the person they become. In the film, which is equal parts experimental and grounded, two friends named Mara and Jo try to preserve a friendship forged during that meaningful time. As their lives become more full, they find it increasingly challenging to remember the formative years when youth could weather personal conflict. 

The plot of the movie traces the trajectories of relationships, jobs, and conversations. Scenes are accentuated by smart uses of long takes and stillness. It often feels as though the frame itself is either shaken loose or held in place by the tumultuousness of what’s being portrayed. Mara comes across as someone trying her hardest to love and care for a troubled friend while protecting herself. Her increasingly guarded approach forces Jo to confront a default dependency on Mara’s infinite availability. Deliberately structured time jumps in the story combined with nuanced performances culminate in a sobering confrontation with the devastation (and inevitability) of growing apart.

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YOURSELF AND YOURS

(2020) dir. Hong Sangsoo

Our fumblings in romantic relationships tend to reflect things we can’t accept about ourselves. While Fourteen deals with how denial can take a backseat to the business of becoming an adult, Yourself and Yours centers on how seasoned ideas about ourselves clash with attempts to be newly vulnerable. 

Built on a series of lengthy conversations and intriguing ambiguities, the mysterious tone of this Hong Sang Soo film reflects our struggles to truly know other people. When attraction, gendered expectations, and social pressures come into play, things become even more complicated. Through the carefully crafted dialogue and performances that guide each scene, the characters’ insecurities are drawn out and laid bare. This makes all resolutions feel realistically fraught with additional questions.

The film’s pleasures are confidently fused with its discomforts. Cinematically speaking, the result is something that feels startlingly human. Hong Sang Soo explores adjacent themes in his striking film On the Beach Alone At Night. While that project exclusively explored destructive aspects of human nature, this one posits that love can exist alongside them. It’s ultimately hopeful and open to the absurdity of what connects us.

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THE LAST TREE

(2019) dir. Shola Amoo

Femi, the protagonist and beating heart of The Last Tree, is forced to grow up far too quickly. He is abandoned at a young age, raised in a place that almost feels like home, then taken back in by his mother—essentially a stranger to him—to endure a harsh existence rife with various kinds of trauma. He encounters violence, isolation, abuse, structural racism, colorism, and so many things tragically tied to his transformation from child into adult.

The film is patient, gorgeous, and compassionate. It portrays Femi as a complex, flawed individual with wants and needs all his own. He ultimately seeks out his origins even though they are never the entire point of his journey throughout the story. The real conflict he embodies is an eternal struggle to love oneself in the moment—something that could resonate with almost anyone. Whether or not he overcomes that struggle is a quandary the film passes along to us.