American Beauty (1999)
Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation with his daughter's attractive friend.
Knock 'Em Dead, Kid (2009)
Bret, 19, yearns to leave his Connecticut hometown and head off to college. He figures summer will be fun with his buddies but as the days progress, the situations he finds himself in spiral out of control. He has run-ins with the police, problems with his girlfriend involving another girl, and a revenge attack he never should have involved himself in.
Million Dollar Baby (2004)
Despondent over a painful estrangement from his daughter, trainer Frankie Dunn isn't prepared for boxer Maggie Fitzgerald to enter his life. But Maggie's determined to go pro and to convince Dunn and his cohort to help her.
Billy Elliot (2000)
County Durham, England, 1984. The miners' strike has started and the police have started coming up from Bethnal Green, starting a class war with the lower classes suffering. Caught in the middle of the conflict is 11-year old Billy Elliot, who, after leaving his boxing club for the day, stumbles upon a ballet class and finds out that he's naturally talented. He practices with his teacher Mrs. Wilkinson for an upcoming audition in Newcastle-upon Tyne for the royal Ballet school in London.
Dirty Dancing (1987)
Expecting the usual tedium that accompanies a summer in the Catskills with her family, 17-year-old Frances 'Baby' Houseman is surprised to find herself stepping into the shoes of a professional hoofer—and unexpectedly falling in love.
Three Colors: Red (1994)
Part-time model Valentine unexpectedly befriends a retired judge after she runs over his dog. At first, the grumpy man shows no concern about the dog, and Valentine decides to keep it. But the two form a bond when she returns to his house and catches him listening to his neighbors’ phone calls.
The 400 Blows (1959)
For young Parisian boy Antoine Doinel, life is one difficult situation after another. Surrounded by inconsiderate adults, including his neglectful parents, Antoine spends his days with his best friend, Rene, trying to plan for a better life. When one of their schemes goes awry, Antoine ends up in trouble with the law, leading to even more conflicts with unsympathetic authority figures.
Harold and Maude (1971)
The young Harold lives in his own world of suicide-attempts and funeral visits to avoid the misery of his current family and home environment. Harold meets an 80-year-old woman named Maude who also lives in her own world yet one in which she is having the time of her life. When the two opposites meet they realize that their differences don’t matter and they become best friends and love each other.
Riceboy Sleeps (2023)
In the 1990s, an immigrant single mother raises her teenage son in the Canadian suburbs, determined to provide a better life for him than the one she left behind in South Korea.
Becoming Jane (2007)
Though young Jane Austen's financially strapped parents expect her to marry the nephew of wealthy Lady Gresham, Jane herself knows that such a union will destroy her creativity and sense of self-worth. Instead, she becomes involved with Tom Lefroy, a charming but penniless apprentice lawyer who gives her the knowledge of the heart she needs for her future career as a novelist.
The Reivers (1969)
In turn-of-the-century Mississippi, an 11-year-old boy comes of age as two mischievous adult friends talk him into sneaking the family car out for a trip to Memphis and a series of adventures.
Cotton Candy Bubble Gum (2025)
After his mom gets engaged to a vindictive cop, Carter, a 21-year-old mama’s boy still living at home, must secure a paid promotion at his internship by the end of the day or find a new place to live. To land the job, his boss gives him a seemingly impossible list of tasks to complete: get his Jeep detailed (the Jeep gets towed), babysit his teenage son (Carter loses the kid), set up his birthday party (a model ODs on the living room floor), and recover a sex tape (a world-famous rapper kidnaps his best friend after a failed blackmail attempt). If Carter can conquer this wildly chaotic day, he might be ready for the real world after all.
Valley of a Thousand Hills (2022)
A young woman who comes from a conservative village must choose between living a lie to stay the perfect Zulu daughter, or risk her life for true love. Nosipho has a secret. She is a loving daughter held up as an example in her community, with a domineering father who has chosen a potential husband for her. But her soulmate and one true love is a woman.
We Love Moses (2016)
When Ella was twelve, she had her first fight. And when she was twelve, she discovered sex. Now eighteen, Ella reflects on how her obsession with her older brother Michael's best friend Moses left her with a secret she still carries.
Blackbird (1988)
A story about friendship between two boys coming from different social backgrounds, but with the equally bitter family experiences.
Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
The story of an old Jewish widow named Daisy Werthan and her relationship with her black chauffeur, Hoke. From an initial mere work relationship grew in 25 years a strong friendship between the two very different characters, in a time when those types of relationships were shunned.
Popular Music (2004)
Matti and Niila, growing up in the mid-sixties in the harsh and conservative environment of a Finnish-speaking part of Tornedalen in Swedish Laponia, close to the Finnish border. Their big dream is to become rock stars. In the present the now grown-up Matti feels guilt for the death of his drug-addicted rock star friend Niila.
Living in the Dead of Night (2022)
A dark coming-of-age story, this neon-noir film follows the story of Hunter, a sheltered teenager finding his place and in search of answers in the psychedelic vacuum of a sleepless metropolis.