It seems that, as far as I can tell, people will never get sick of coming of age stories. Whether it’s about high schoolers dealing with their peers and their thoughts about the future, kids going on a road trip to see a dead body out of curiosity, or a bunch of outcasts trying to enjoy living in a small town, coming of age stories work best when a story feels so unique yet broad enough that anyone can relate to the characters regardless of their similarities or differences. For a modern example, it’s one of the reasons why Kayla from Bo Burnham’s “Eighth Grade” is such a great character even if you were never a teenage girl. Surprisingly though, there’s another niche in this subgenre which involves teenagers coming to terms with themselves and their sexuality...while being forced to attend a gay conversion camp. Two films are tackling this topic in different ways: Joel Edgerton’s “Boy Erased” and Desiree Akhavan’s “The Miseducation of Cameron Post.” While I can’t speak about Edgerton’s take on the topic just yet, Akhavan’s film definitely shows the potential of such a story.
The Miseducation of Cameron Post
The Miseducation of Cameron Post
The Miseducation of Cameron Post
It seems that, as far as I can tell, people will never get sick of coming of age stories. Whether it’s about high schoolers dealing with their peers and their thoughts about the future, kids going on a road trip to see a dead body out of curiosity, or a bunch of outcasts trying to enjoy living in a small town, coming of age stories work best when a story feels so unique yet broad enough that anyone can relate to the characters regardless of their similarities or differences. For a modern example, it’s one of the reasons why Kayla from Bo Burnham’s “Eighth Grade” is such a great character even if you were never a teenage girl. Surprisingly though, there’s another niche in this subgenre which involves teenagers coming to terms with themselves and their sexuality...while being forced to attend a gay conversion camp. Two films are tackling this topic in different ways: Joel Edgerton’s “Boy Erased” and Desiree Akhavan’s “The Miseducation of Cameron Post.” While I can’t speak about Edgerton’s take on the topic just yet, Akhavan’s film definitely shows the potential of such a story.