Two soldiers return from Vietnam, one mentally scarred, the other physically. We flashback to their childhood and the fascination the slightly crazy one has with flying. So maybe after the horror of war it's a more logical decision to be a bird! A brilliant film about disillusionment, growing up and existential madness. find out more...

Peter Yates' Oscar-winner is a heart-warming coming-of-age story that has also taken its place as the greatest sports movie about cycling ever made. Four friends graduate from high-school and find themselves looking at an uncertain future in small-town America. Dave's passion is cycling and his dream is to be a world-class champion like the Italians he idolises. His passion for cycling takes on new meaning when he and his friends face a team from the local college in the town's annual bike ra find out more...

Eight-year-old Zachary has, so far, enjoyed life as his father's favourite son, as the possessor of a gift for healing and as younger sibling to a tearaway, a jock and a bookworm, but this relatively idyllic childhood in Québec is cast under the shadow of his dad's suspicions when he is discovered wearing a dress. Seven years on it's 1975 and Zac is in thrall to Ziggy Stardust and his cousin's boyfriend, a confusing situation for him, made more complicated by a history of trying to satisfy his d find out more...

A death obssessed teenager and a 79 year old woman who lives life to the full gang up together in one of the wittiest black comedies ever made. An inventive, enduring classic which was far ahead of its time. You mean you haven't seen it? find out more...

Ingmar is a mischievous boy growing up in Sweden in the 1950s. Life for him doesn't improve when his mother becomes bedridden and he is farmed out to rural relatives, but, by using his imagination, he successfully learns to cope with his quirky, open-eyed optimism intact. A witty, touching and perceptive rites of passage movie. find out more...

The definitive gangster-epic; violent? Yes, but never mindless. The Jewish Mafia's coming of age on the Lower East Side in 1923, their rise to wealth during Prohibition, and their fall in 1933, provide the background to a story of friendship and betrayal, love and death. Leone's masterful cinematography evokes both the harshness of the vice-ridden decades before and after Prohibition, but also the philosophy behind it. Splendid performances by De Niro and Woods and a stupendous score by Ennio Mo find out more...

A visually brilliant film about teenage gangs in America's urban wasteland. The leader of a small dying gang, Rusty James, lives in the shadow of the memory of his absent, older brother - The Motorcycle Boy. His mother has left, his father drinks, school has no meaning for him and his relationships are shallow. One of Coppola's two adaptations of S E Hinton novels, 'The Outsiders' being the other. A great performance from Dillon and an awesome soundtrack. find out more...

Four boys head off into the forest to look for the body of a school-friend who has disappeared. This much-acclaimed movie is a brilliantly acted and directed group portrait which depicts the four boys at the end of childhood, on the edge of adult awareness. Written by horror author, Stephen King. find out more...

Germany, 1954; teenager Michael Berg becomes ill on his way home and is helped by Hanna, a taciturn, but attractive woman twice his age. When recovered Michael returns to her apartment to thank the stranger for her kindness he swiftly finds himself involved in a furtive, impassioned affair. As this relationship intensifies Michael discovers Hanna's love of being read to. When Hanna disappears without a trace the young lad is left confused and bereft. find out more...

Back in England, in the early 80s, bullied at school and mourning his father, recently dead in Thatcher's heroic Falklands War, lonely 12-year-old Shaun finds solace with a gang of older youths in the ska influenced skinhead subculture, a culture that was about to be hijacked by a nasty and virulent form of white power nationalism. Largely based round Shane Meadows' own experiences growing up on an impoverished Nottingham housing estate. Strongly recommended. find out more...