Summary
- Coming-of-age movies on Netflix offer timeless stories that connect with audiences transitioning from adolescence to adulthood, covering themes such as loss, rebellion, and mental health.
- Netflix offers a variety of coming-of-age movies, including dramas and comedies, showcasing different challenges faced by characters as they navigate relationships, college decisions, and personal growth.
- Unique coming-of-age stories on Netflix include "Fatherhood," which focuses on a man learning to raise his daughter alone, and "Enola Holmes," where the titular character steps out of her famous brother's shadow to solve a murder mystery.
The best quality of coming-of-age movies is that they're truly timeless, which is why new audiences can continue to find even classic coming-of-age movies on Netflix. When made well, these movies reach into the hearts of everyone who is in the process of "growing up" or are adults already, and find universal elements that connect people when they transition from being adolescents to adults. Reaching into the hearts of the audience doesn't mean that all coming-of-age movies have to be dramas though. Quite of few of the coming-of-age movies available on Netflix are actually comedies.
Nobody has an identical journey, but themes like loss, heartbreak, rebellion, mental health issues, and high school hijinks generally figure into this tumultuous but exciting time in people's lives. Coming-of-age cinema successfully captures these feelings and Netflix has some amazing movies that audiences can watch to relive these moments.
The Last Summer (2019)
There’s nothing that says “coming of age” better than the time right after teenagers finish high school. So many teen movies are set in the summer, That’s exactly the time period in which this Netflix original movie is set. While there are a lot of separate storylines going on that can be a lot for the audience to keep up with, the performances of the young ensemble were praised, specifically Maia Mitchell. Each of the different characters is dealing with their own challenges like whether to follow the path planned out by their parents, whether to hold on to their high school relationships, whether they can even afford to go to college, and each of those differences forces them to take the first steps toward growing up.
Fatherhood (2021)
Most of the coming-of-age movies on Netflix focus on teenagers growing into adulthood, but Fatherhood is different. Based on the memoir Two Kisses for Maddy: A Memoir of Loss and Love by Matthew Logelin, the movie follows a man (Kevin Hart) as he struggles to raise his daughter alone when his wife suddenly dies. Many of his wife’s family don’t believe he has the patience or the skill to raise a little girl alone, causing him to doubt his own abilities. His story is really of coming-of-age as a father rather than as a teen to adult, making for a unique story in the genre, but spotlighting a very real story.
The Perfect Date (2019)
Noah Centineo and Laura Marano have both appeared in quite a few different Netflix original movies. The Perfect Date is the only one they’ve done together, and the coming-of-age story is reminiscent of Easy A, though it falls short in the social commentary department. Centineo plays a teenager who decides to offer himself up as an escort to teenage girls who need a “perfect date” in order to make money for college. Unfortunately for him, he realizes that juggling that many girls and keeping secrets about his venture only leads to heartache, especially as he falls for one of the girls he first spent the evening with (Marano). The story is one of a teen learning from their mistakes and realizing that maybe nothing can be perfect after all.
The Kissing Booth (2018)
The Kissing Booth is actually a trilogy of movies on Netflix, but the first truly kicks off the coming-of-age story as the main characters all learn lessons about growing up. Joey King and Joel Courtney star as best friends who have a particular set of rules. When Elle (King) falls for Lee’s (Courtney) big brother, she tries to keep her own feelings under wraps. Noah (Jacob Elordi) returns her feelings though, and the two try to keep their deepening relationship a secret. They learn valuable lessons in telling the truth while Lee has to learn to trust those he cares about, all parts of growing up.
Along For The Ride (2022)
Based on the Sarah Dessen novel of the same name, Along For The Ride follows Auden Emma Pasarow) as she spends her last summer before college with her estranged father (Dermot Mulroney) and his new wife (Kate Bosworth). In what might be the reverse of most coming-of-age movies on Netflix, Auden doesn’t have to learn to be more adult. Instead, she has to learn to let herself be a kid. She’s always been mature, raised by two academics and focused on her school work, but her time in Colby allows her to connect with other teens and begin to experience things for the first time, like dance parties and riding a bike.
Moxie (2021)
Amy Poehler's well-intentioned directorial work here is a punch in the gut, but in a great way. Moxie addresses sexism that starts from high school locker rooms, degrading lists made about teenage girls, and how authorities won't bother making it right if the perpetrator is a straight white boy with a sports record. Vivian's (Hadley Robinson) discovery of her Gen X mom's feminist zines gives her inspiration to start her own indie zine that calls out the misogyny in the school anonymously, helping bring down a pattern of rape culture and chauvinism.
Enola Holmes (2020)
Inspired by the first book in Nancy Springer’s series, Enola Holmes has also begun a series of films for Netflix starring Millie Bobby Brown in the title role. Enola is the younger sister of Sherlock Holmes who has spent most of her life with her unconventional mother and in the shadow of her highly intelligent big brother. She might be naive to some of the ways of the world, but her coming-of-age means stepping out of her brother’s shadow, finding her missing mother, and solving a murder mystery.
The Water Man (2020)
Set up like a fairy tale, The Water Man is the story of a young man dealing with his grief and understanding of loss. Gunner Boone (Lonnie Chavis) uses his own development of a graphic novel to avoid thinking about his mother’s possible death from leukemia. That is, until he hears about a possible magical man in the new place where he and his mother have moved, that he thinks might be able to prevent her from dying. He and his new friend Jo (Amiah Miller) escape their lack of a relationship with their fathers and the dreary reality of their lives by searching for the Water Man just as a wildfire creeps closer.
Mixtape (2021)
Set as 1999 is coming to a close, Mixtape uses music to tell a coming-of-age story on Netflix. Centering on Beverly (Gemma Brooke Allen), Mixtape follows the teenager’s quest to better understand her parents by tracking down all the songs on a ruined mixtape her mother made. Her mother died in a car accident after having Beverly very young, and Beverly, almost the same age as her mother when she was born, longs to feel more connected to her. With music choices like “Linda Linda” by the Blue Hearts and “Teacher’s Pet” by The Quick, the songs really set the stage for this Netflix original.
Finding ‘Ohana (2021)
A big family move always makes a good catalyst for a coming-of-age story. That’s exactly what happens in the Netflix original Finding ‘Ohana, which takes a lot of its inspiration from family classics like The Goonies. Siblings born of Hawaiian family , but raised in New York are not thrilled when they have to temporarily move to Oahu because their mother has to help her ailing father. Pili (Kea Peahu) finds solace in a treasure hunt that results from her love for geocaching, a treasure hunt that eventually the entire family is roped into, giving her an appreciation for the culture of her family that she’s been missing. The treasure hunt doesn’t just allow Pili to understand why her mother would leave the home they knew to help her father but makes Pili decide that she doesn’t mind staying in Hawaii permanently either.
