Why do we get the blues the day after a major turning point in our life? Graduations are supposed to be a celebration, a day we wake up basking in sunshine and the infinite wisdom of knowing we’re onto bigger, better things. At least, that’s the way it should be in theory.
Psh. Relaity check. There’s actually a lot of anxiety that blossoms around the uncertainty graduations bring. Unless you’re one of the elite few who has a European backpacking trip planned, to be followed by an exciting move to a new city with a super swank apartment and your dream job, it may be more likely that you’re spending your days eating too much Chipotle and commiserating with your friends while the remaining days of your lease tick away.
There’s a subtle excitement in not knowing exactly what’s going to happen. Call it a cliffhanger, if you will. Maybe some of us just want the reassurance of knowing we won’t end up miserable alcoholics who long for the good old days.
But mostly, when I look back, I wish I could remind myself to take it one day at a time and give up holding out for a miracle. The miracles that occur in our lives are the ones we go out looking for ourselves. We stumble on a lucky break now and then, but moping doesn’t help. Action cures fear.
And once you know you can’t worry your way into a brighter future, that leaves a few extra minutes for…a movie. Maybe some kettle corn and living room yoga. An hour’s refuge of knowing someone else didn’t have their shit figured out either, even if they were a fictional character.
So here are the movies I’d go back and watch in those long, hot worrisome summer days…
Reality Bites
A group of four friends graduate from college in the early 90’s, already seeming tentative about what the future may hold. Ethan Hawke plays Troy Dyer, a certified emo kid who’s into Leilana Pierce, played by Winona Ryder. Ben Stiller shows up as an MTV yuppie exec – Hawke’s polar opposite and romantic nemesis.
Naturally, things go horribly wrong for the four friends and they rag on a lot about the real world. Hence the film’s title. But it’s the kind of coming-of-age period we all go through. If we’re lucky, we have a few friends to come home to for commiserating with at the end of a long day.
Troy is the kind of guy you know you’d never, ever want to end up with in the long run. He’s a phase guy. But as pessimistic and in desperate need of a shower as he is, I can’t blame Leilana for going after him. He’s just got this guitar-playing, flannel-wearing, intellectualizing thing.
Also, P.S., this song got me totally hooked on the song “All I Want Is You” by U2. That is all.
Adventureland
This movie isn’t about an emo kid. It’s actually about a very nice kid whose crappy parents crappily inform him that they’re kind of screwing him over. His father’s demotion means no grad school, and certainly no European backpacking trip. On top of it all, it’s later revealed that his dad has a drinking problem and isn’t above pinning blame on his son.
That son is the film’s main character, James Brennan, who at 22 is still a virgin and cringingly open about it. He takes a minimum-wage job at the local theme park, Adventureland, where he’s told he “looks like a games guy.” There, he befriends the people who he’ll spend the summer of 1987 with, a gang of misfits that include a moody but kind girl named Em, who’s played by Kristen Stewart.
At the end of the film, James realizes that he has to make it on his own, so he packs it up and makes the big move to New York City as he originally planned when he was admitted to Columbia’s journalism school. And he’s happy as hell to leave his days as a “games guy” behind him.
This movie is light on plot, but heavy on characters. We all know a Tommy Frigo. Minor roles from Bill Hader, Kristin Wiig and Ryan Reynolds are cherries on the sundae.
The Devil Wears Prada
Very few people have their dream job straight out of college. This movie is about a newly minted grad, Andy Sachs, who accidentally lands a job that “a million girls would kill for.” As it turns out, this job is not anyone’s dream job. It’s a soul-sucking, life-draining 60-hour-week trap disguised as one of the most glamorous gigs in New York.
Andy is an executive assistant for fashion editor Miranda Priestly, a character based not-so-loosely on Anna Wintour and played brilliantly by Meryl Streep. As she grins and bears her hellish job, she’s driven further down a path that seems like something she should want. It’s very different than what she actually wants for herself and the carer she’s forging, and she must figure out how to get herself back on track with seemingly mounting stakes.
What’s more coming of age than that?
Dazed and Confused
I know it’s about high school, but Dazed is literally one of my favorite films.
More specifically, it’s about the last day of the school 1976 school year. The film does a great job at setting the feeling of the era. It was a time when people cruised around looking for things to do and meeting up, instead of creeping each other on Facebook.
Writer/director Richard Linklater mentioned The Last Picture Show‘s influence, and it really shines through if you’ve seen both films. After the stoner jokes and the killer soundtrack, as you watch the final scene you’re left with this somber reminder – everything is temporary.
American Graffiti
Since I included Dazed, I have to throw this one in. American Graffiti is to Dazed and Confused what Heathers is to Mean Girls: a slightly less hip but very necessary predecessor.
This film is one night at the end of summer. For many of the characters, it’s the summer before college and the last night that a lot of them will see their friends before going their separate ways. It’s a series of subplots that culminate with a drag race at sunrise, really bringing home the last of the greaser era of the 1960s.
This film is what earned George Lucas his racing stripes before Star Wars ever had a cinema marquee. It’s also the film debut of Harrison Ford, who probably had no idea what a star he’d go on to be.
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