Saturday, September 22, 2018

YouTube Hidden Gems #1 - Old Enough (1984)





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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




https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AQj4cFO0AIk&t=2488s