As some
may know, you can sometimes find hidden film gems deep in the transferred
crevasses of YouTube. Old hidden movies that people have forgotten were good,
and that leads us to such a film as Marisa Silver’s Old Enough from 1984.
Starring a child Alyssa Milano, a wonderfully enigmatic Rainbow Harvest and a
blissfully wise Sarah Boyd.
Old Enough
is about 7th grader Lonnie (played by Sarah Boyd), child to upper class New
York parents with her younger sister Diane. Lonnie is on track of being a
straight A student, piano prodigy and summer camp visitor, until that all takes
backseat when she suddenly meets Karen, an older teenager with a Bronx attitude
and a lower income up bringing, who soon teaches Lonnie the ways of a
shoplifting, style minded lifestyle but all the while giving Lonnie the
education she didn’t know she needed, giving her notice of class struggle,
culture, debauchery, child abuse, her own surroundings, trouble with boys,
appreciation of her own parents and a summer impossible to forget.
From the
opening credits and on, Marisa Silver does with Old Enough what some of the
best 70’s movies have done in terms of style over the decade, by allowing
observation and music to co exist, creating an intimate visual narrative to the
story and inevitably pulling us closer to Lonnie’s perspective and her
relationship with Karen when things get more intense between them. Not only
that, but the funky minimalist Casio synth score really gives way to the
feeling of a child’s coming of age and a teenagers journey through awkward yet
youthful discovery in the streets and buildings of a 1980’s NYC.
The
dynamics of Lonnie and Karen’s relationship really come through in Sarah Boyd’s
unstated but therefore natural acting choices, really sell the awkwardness of
being age 12 and trying to look up to an older kid who you know is steering you
in wrong direction, due to their own insecurities. With the writing Sarah Boyd
creates a character who’s reserved yet all the while, cool, calm and collected
ironically in contrast of Rainbow Harvest, very much creating an interesting
dynamic. The character of Karen played brashly and earnestly by the great
Rainbow Harvest, is portrayed as if Rainbow really put her real life self and
experiences into the role giving off the attitude of Karen yet the vulnerable
deep down that comes out in Karen when she’s challenged, making Karen
completely redeemable knowing that at the end of the day Karen will do the
right thing underneath that tough exterior.
Old Enough
is one of those great 80’s films that kids and adults can both find something
sweet and as well profound by the end of the film, without being pandered to or
put off from. Take some time out and check out Old Enough on the YouTubes and
have an experience like back in the day.
-
Maurice Jones
