MovieChat Forums > Dare mo shiranai (2004) Discussion > Other great kids movies?

Other great kids movies?

posted 18 years ago by LuciaJoyce
32 replies | jump to latest

What other movies like "Nobody Knows" can you name, that are focussed primarily (or exclusively) on kids, that have stories and actors of such similarly great quality? I can only think of maybe four or five, and only one of those has a cast that's primarily of kids (see below):

Jeux Interdits (Forbidden Games)
Les Quatre-Cents Coups (The 400 Blows)
Ponnette
E.T.
Lilya 4-ever

...and that's it!

I would include Disney movies, like Return To Witch Mountain and The Cat From Outer Space, and maybe Truffaut's L'argent de poche, except that I haven't seen those movies since I was like two years old, and I don't know if they'll hold up still. =)

Can you name any others?

[–] JLaurel 15 years ago

Our Mother's House

I'm ready to listen. Are you ready to think?

[–] pammauriks 15 years ago

Mean creek (american)
The return (russian)
Paradise now
Das weisse band (Austrian)
De kleine blonde dood (dutch)
Edge of honor (american b-movie, which I liked a lot)
Magnifico (Fillipines)

[–] LuciaJoyce 15 years ago

Paradise Now is a kids' movie? I've had it for years, but have never watched it.

The White Ribbon is an inspired choice.... but a very different animal than Nobody Knows. Along the same lines, I would probably name Look And See, Day of the Triffids or The Boy With Green Hair.

Thanks for reminding me of Zyagintsev's "The Return" -- it's been a long time since I've seen that movie!

--
I should warn you -- he's a Fourierist.

[–] dansemave 14 years ago

"Paradise Now" - kids? Not IMO. More like 'young men'.

[–] omoxus 14 years ago

Definantly "Children Of Heaven"

Im the Alpha and the Omoxus. The Omoxus and the Omega

[–] Imortala 14 years ago

Yimou Zhang's
"Happy Times" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0303243/
"Not One Less" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0209189/

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] ewanfan-1 14 years ago

Try Night of the Hunter for an American classic about two kids who have to run away from a killer.

Children of Invention is about two Chinese kids in America whose mom gets arrested so they have to fend for themselves.

[–] Enoculator 14 years ago

Treeless Mountain
Mean Creek

[–] GuyOnTheLeft 12 years ago

Ponette (just one N) is a great choice. The already mentioned Argent de Poche is good also.

Two other French films I would nominate: Le Papillon (The Butterfly) and especially Etre et Avoir (To Be and to Have).

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See a list of my favourite films here: http://www.flickchart.com/slackerinc

[–] wearyourlove 12 years ago

Movies about young kids are practically a genre of their own, there are so many. And many of them are tremendous.

(Some) of the best that haven't been mentioned:

Kes by Ken Loach
Ratcatcher by Lynne Ramsay
Sister by Ursula Meier
I Was Born, But... by Yasujiro Ozu
The Children Are Watching Us by Vittorio De Sica
Tomboy by Celine Sciamma
Billy Elliot by Stephen Daldry
Where is the Friend's Home? by Abbas Kiarostami
Mud by Jeff Nichols
Cria Cuervos by Carlos Saura
Amarcord by Federico Fellini
Pelle the Conqueror by Bille August
The Black Stallion bu Carol Ballard
The Fallen Idol by Carol Reed
Ivan's Childhood by Andrei Tarkovsky
Murmur of the Heart and Au Revoir les Enfants by Louis Malle

[–] mnoe 12 years ago

Your mention of The Black Stallion reminded me of The Yearling from 1946, which in turn reminded me of the great kid actors in To Kill a Mockingbird.

I saw Cría cuervos fairly recently (see signature below), and strongly agree that it belongs on a list of these great films. Another wonderful Spanish film from the same era (and which I don't think has been mentioned yet) is Victor Erice's Spirit of the Beehive (El espíritu de la colmena).

I also recommend Gianni Amelio's Il ladro di bambini (The Stolen Children). It was made in 1992 but it is definitely an heir to the tradition of De Sica's Ladri di biciclette.

Someone in the thread mentioned Salaam Bombay, which is terrific. It also reminds me to mention the documentary Born Into Brothels. There's also Michael Apted's amazing Up series of documentaries, starting with Seven Up! in 1964, and inspiring the offshoots 7 Up in South Africa and Age 7 in the USSR.

Nice thread, everyone.

last 2 dvds: Cría cuervos (1976) & Inhaling the Spore (2006)