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Saturday, July 04, 2015

Top Childhood films

The Top Childhood films countdown has begun at Wonders in the Dark. Essays of the Top 83 films will be posted from June - October 2015.  As per the ballot rules, films where the character's age fell between 1 - 18 years were eligible for consideration. Such a broad age gap certainly made for some challenges in coming up with a list because a like for like comparison is not feasible between films where the main character is under 10 years of age compared to films where the main character is a teenager. Therefore, I came up with my own criteria when submitting a ballot of the Top 60 films. I decided to place films where the main character was a teenager near the end of the list and opted to have films with younger characters closer to the front. There were some exceptions but I tried to maintain this distinction.

Here is my Top 60 Childhood films ballot submitted to Wonders in the Dark:
  1. The 400 Blows / Les Quatre Cents Coups (1959, France, François Truffaut)
  2. Pather Panchali (1955, India, Satyajit Ray)
  3. The Red Balloon (1956, France, Albert Lamorisse)
  4. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962, USA, Robert Mulligan)
  5. I was Born, But... (1932, Japan, Yasujirô Ozu)
  6. The White Balloon (1995, Iran, Jafar Panahi)
  7. The Bicycle Thieves (1948, Italy, Vittorio De Sica)
  8. Naked Childhood / L'enfance nue (1968, France, Maurice Pialat)
  9. Where is the friend’s home? (1987, Iran, Abbas Kiarostami)
  10. The Kid with a Bike (2011, Belgium, Jean-Pierre Dardenne/Luc Dardenne)
  11. Mouchette (1967, France, Robert Bresson)
  12. Cinema Paradiso (1988, Italy, Giuseppe Tornatore)
  13. Good Morning (1959, Japan, Yasujirô Ozu)
  14. Yi Yi (2000, Taiwan, Edward Yang)
  15. The Night of the Hunter (1955, USA, Charles Laughton)
  16. Kes (1969, UK, Ken Loach)
  17. The Kid (1921, USA, Charlie Chaplin)
  18. A Brighter Summer Day (1991, Taiwan, Edward Yang)
  19. The Spirit of the Beehive (1973, Spain, Victor Erice)
  20. Hope and Glory (1987, UK, John Boorman)
  21. Cria Cuervos (1976, Spain, Carlos Saura)
  22. The Long Day Closes (1992, UK, Terence Davies)
  23. Crows (1984, Poland, Dorota Kedzierzawska)
  24. My Childhood (1972, UK, Bill Douglas)
  25. Rosetta (1999, Belgium, Jean-Pierre Dardenne/Luc Dardenne)
  26. My Neighbour Totoro (1988, Japan, Hayao Miyazaki)
  27. Germany, Year Zero (1948, Italy/West Germany/France, Roberto Rossellini)
  28. An Inn in Tokyo (1935, Japan, Yasujirô Ozu)
  29. Zero for Conduct (1933, France, Jean Vigo)
  30. Aparajito (1957, India, Satyajit Ray)
  31. Nobody Knows (2004, Japan, Hirokazu Koreeda)
  32. Fanny and Alexander (1982, Sweden, Ingmar Bergman)
  33. The Tin Drum (1979, West Germany, Volker Schlöndorff)
  34. The Last Picture Show (1971, USA, Peter Bogdanovich)
  35. Ghost World (2001, USA, Terry Zwigoff)
  36. Lord of the Flies (1963, UK, Peter Brook)
  37. Pixote (1981, Brazil, Hector Babenco)
  38. The Childhood of Maxim Gorky (1938, USSR, Mark Donskoy)
  39. Los Olvidados (1950, Mexico, Luis Buñuel)
  40. Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987, France/West Germany, Italy, Louis Malle)
  41. The Apple (1998, Iran, Samira Makhmalbaf)
  42. Ivan’s Childhood (1962, USSR, Andrei Tarkovsky)
  43. Spirited Away (2001, Japan, Hayao Miyazaki)
  44. Blood / O Sangue (1989, Portugal, Pedro Costa)
  45. Mon Oncle (1958, France/Italy, Jacques Tati)
  46. Aniki Bóbó (1942, Portugal, Manoel de Oliveira)
  47. I Killed My Mother (2009, Canada, Xavier Dolan)
  48. Let the Right One In (2008, Sweden, Tomas Alfredson)
  49. Fat Girl (2001, France/Italy, Catherine Breillat)
  50. Beijing Bicycle (2001, China, Xiaoshuai Wang)
  51. Grave of the Fireflies (1988, Japan, Isao Takahata)
  52. Dead Poets Society (1989, USA, Peter Weir)
  53. Taare Zameen Par (2007, India, Aamir Khan/Amole Gupte)
  54. Halfaouine: Child of the Terraces (1990, Tunisia/France/Italy, Ferid Boughedir)
  55. Mon Oncle Antoine (1971, Canada, Claude Jutra)
  56. I Wish (2011, Japan, Hirokazu Koreeda)
  57. Show me Love (1998, Sweden/Denmark, Lukas Moodysson)
  58. A Summer in La Goulette (1996, Tunisia/France/Belgium, Ferid Boughedir)
  59. Rebels of the Neon God (1992, Taiwan, Tsai Ming-liang)
  60. Kids (1995, USA, Larry Clark)

6 comments:

Sam Juliano said...

A fabulous list of course, was grateful to get it, and much appreciate the promotion here Sachin. As you know all is going quite well my friend!

Sachin said...

Thank you so much Sam for having this countdown and asking me to contribute. I enjoyed coming up with this ballot and catching up on some worthy films. I am looking forward to reading all the reviews and then seeing some great films that I missed.

Krunal said...

That's quite an extensive list, I haven't many of them and this is very good list of films. Though when one refer to films about childhood, Kes, Ratcatcher & Where is my friend's home always come to my mind, they are perhaps my favorite films about childhood, two of these are on your list, I wish you had Ratcatcher too.

Norman Crane said...

I've seen almost 1/3 of these. A few more that would fill out my list are: Stand By Me (although maybe more about nostalgia than childhood), Kids Return (one of my favourites by Kitano), Rebel Without a Cause (the characters were kids, if not the actors), and George Washington (which I can't believe is now 15 years old!)

Great list, Sachin.

Sachin said...

Thanks Krunal. A few people voted for Ratcatcher and it may still make the countdown. I have not seen it but will seek it out.

Sachin said...

Thanks Norman. Long time no talk :) I thought about Rebel Without a Cause but since the actors were older, I didn't feel right about including it. I know there were a decent amount of votes for it. I also can't believe that George Washington is 15 years old now. It was a tough film to leave out.