After hitting the unnerving age of 25, I was ambushed by the villainous, ‘quarterlife crisis.’ Among other concerns, I wrestled with wondering if I would still be grouped in the category of ‘dependent millennials’ or would I be finally given the key to adulthood? My only promises for 2016 are to stop using coffee filters as toilet paper and to re-gain lost confidence to adapt to myself. Here are some fantastic foreign films about 20 somethings whom had no other choice but to evolve.
1. L’Auberge Espagnole
Easily one of my favorite French films directed by Cédric Klapisch about a study abroad experience in Barcelona. The first installment of the infamous trilogy illustrates all the confusion and hilarity that occur while being a broke young person abroad and sharing an apartment with a handful of other broke young people who can’t speak your language.
2. Jules Et Jim
Jules Et Jim is the Trauffaut comedy turned tragedy movie that plays with the idea of a threesome between three best friends. Catherine, played by the incomparable, Jeanne Moreau is the original “bae” as she is incredibly desirable yet devastatingly complicated (who isn’t?) This iconic film is memorable not just for the groundbreaking story line, but the delicate nature in which Trauffaut addresses these feelings among young adults in relationships which are today recognized as, “It’s Complicated.”
3. Norwegian Wood
Based off of Haruki Murakami’s novel of the same title, this indie Japanese love story covers all the bases when it comes to falling in love in your early twenties. Norwegian Wood is a story of regret and shame that seem to overcome us when you lose someone you deeply care for during these crucial years. And if you are wondering, yes, George Harrison’s sitar also makes a cameo.
4. Necktie Youth
South Africa’s gripping black and white roller-coaster ride of a film spotlights reckless young adults in an affluent neighborhood in Johannesburg. Based off of directors, Sibs Shongwe-La Mer experiences after her best friend committed suicide, Necktie Youth embodies the rage and loneliness our generation inhabits and the abrasive pain we at times, inflict on ourselves.
5. Shaitan
Shaitan is an intense psychological thriller that erupted out of Bollywood with the crucial message to cut off people in your life that are trying to murder you. The film is brilliantly scored and explores a darker side of Hindi films that don’t usually reach mainstream.
6. Y Tu Mama Tambien
One of the greatest film sex scenes of all time is the raw threesome between two horny adolescents, Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal who during their road trip encounter an irresistible older woman played by Maribel Verdú in Alfonso Cuarón’s, Y Tu Mama Tambien. Intrigued?
7. La Haine
2015 marked the 20 year anniversary of the film that shook France, La Haine. Although the KRS-1 and Beastie Boys drenched soundtrack is dated, watching the film is as if we were watching CNN in America today. Centered around the intersection between police brutality and racism in the banlieues of Paris within a 24 hour block, this beautifully gritty film is a story about 20 somethings who are forced to grow up faster than most.
8. Trainspotting
Danny Boyle’s raucous dark comedy about a group of young heroin addicts in post-recession Scotland is one of those turn-around films in which you truly believe that although wildly entertaining, Ewan McGregor and his drug addicted ‘friends’ will not make it. Boyle recently confirmed a Trainspotting 2 is in the works.
Film list by Danielle O’Neill. Follow her on twitter @doneill13.
