Coming-of-age films have long been a moviemaking staple. Stories featuring young people who are attempting to define themselves, to relate to their elders while figuring their place in the world, certainly are appealing both dramatically and as subjects that will attract the audience demographic that the movie industry so desperately covets.
One of the more ambitious and original recent coming-of-age films is the cleverly-titled IT FELT LIKE LOVE, an American independent which recently was released on DVD. IT FELT LIKE LOVE focuses on Lila, a young Brooklyn teen who is passing her summer days in the company of her more worldly best friend and her best friend's latest boyfriend. Lila is little more than a third wheel as the pair cavort and inevitably become intimate. They are too self-involved to ponder the impact that their actions are having on Lila.
And what about her parents? Is there any adult to whom Lila can turn for advice? Tellingly, Lila's mother is deceased and her father is barely present. So Lila becomes increasingly caught up in loneliness. What will become of her? Is she merely aching to grow up too fast, or is there something deeper at work here?
IT FELT LIKE LOVE explores the emotions, needs, and experiences of young people: everything from surface jealousy to the differences between girls and boys to the desire to be well-liked and accepted by one's peers. And specifically, in relation to Lila, she finds herself expressing her need to claim that she is "experienced" when she really has little or no life experience at all.
So many coming-of-age films-- and included here are the more ambitious character studies as well as the formulaic romcoms that spin off the Hollywood assembly line-- are superficially in-your-face in their presentations of girls, boys, and sex. Refreshingly, this is not the case here. Of course, sex plays a major role in IT FELT LIKE LOVE. This is to be expected, given the ages and interests of its characters, but onscreen sexual references are not present merely as an audience draw. They are not fashioned as titillation. The sex as presented in IT FELT LIKE LOVE is serious stuff, and it is thoughtfully depicted by director-screenwriter Eliza Hittman.
At its core, IT FELT LIKE LOVE is a character study about a young person and what she sees and experiences and the changes she is going through as she is impacted by the world around her. It also is the kind of film in which every shot exists for a purpose. Every onscreen moment has meaning. There is no fat in this film, no excess. And often, Lila is seen staring off into space. No dialogue is necessary here. The look on her face as she responds to specific situations is all you need to know in order grasp the mood of the moment.
IT FELT LIKE LOVE is not the kind of film that is fashioned to appeal to young people who are looking to see themselves onscreen in popcorn entertainment. It is a serious film that takes a sobering look at a young person's plight. It is a film that clearly is fashioned for adults.
Rob Edelman teaches film history at the University at Albany. He has written several books on film and television, and is an associate editor of Leonard Maltin’s Movie and Video Guide.
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