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Teenage

Play trailer Poster for Teenage Released Mar 14, 2014 1h 20m Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
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77% Tomatometer 66 Reviews 49% Popcornmeter 2,500+ Ratings
Early 20th century diaries provide a glimpse into the birth of youth culture.
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Teenage

Teenage

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Critics Consensus

Using a smartly assembled blend of archival footage and well-made re-enactments, Teenage surveys the rise of adolescent culture with tenderness and wit.

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Critics Reviews

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Ty Burr Boston Globe A roughly chronological jumble of archival footage, unconvincing period reenactments, gauzy voice-overs, and half-baked ideas that makes one yearn for the stolid dullness of a History Channel documentary. Rated: 1.5/4 May 22, 2014 Full Review Jen Chaney Washington Post Deftly weaves together various media in a way that breathes its own youthful, stream-of-conscious life into the documentary genre. Rated: 2.5/4 May 22, 2014 Full Review Tom Keogh Seattle Times There's no "there" there in "Teenage," a meandering mess of a documentary that has the feel of a bloated, inchoate term paper. Rated: 1.5/4 May 8, 2014 Full Review Bernard Boo Way Too Indie Teenage casts an intoxicating spell, but in the haze of war and underground dance parties, it doesn't have the time to help us understand what the hell it all means. Rated: 7/1 Mar 28, 2019 Full Review Ben Nicholson CineVue It is [an] extremely accomplished and suggestive work, but it also lacks the clarity and insight into the subject matter that is present in the book. It is a film that bewitches in the screening but lingers less in the aftermath. Rated: 3/5 Mar 7, 2019 Full Review Naila Scargill Trebuchet An interesting, idiosyncratic piece that, thanks to an excellent edit, creates the impression that we are somehow following one single generation throughout the four decades represented. Feb 28, 2019 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member good footage, wasted. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/24/23 Full Review Audience Member I thought it was really interesting to learn about the birth of the teenagers. Had no idea how the world wars contributed to that. Tons of great footage. A little disappointed it didn't dissect more recent teenage culture. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/02/23 Full Review Audience Member Helpful insight and unique way of demonstrating the subject but I feel like something was missing. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/11/23 Full Review Audience Member This was an interesting documentary about young people in America, England and Germany from the industrial revolution until just after WWII, when they started using the term teenage. I would suggest watching it. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/29/23 Full Review Audience Member A companion piece to the book Teenage: The Creation of Youth Culture, 1875-1945. As the title states we're exploring the development of youth culture from 1875 to 1945. So, this film does not venture into teen culture of the 1950s, 1960s, or beyond. This was the most disappointing part, that the doc did not draw any connections between this time period and the decades to come. The young actors styled to look like teens of various times and places with journal entries narrated to tell their specific stories worked well. However, it is all the archival materials that bring the formation of the term teenagers to life. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/01/23 Full Review Audience Member A film celebrating a myth. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/20/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Teenage

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis Early 20th century diaries provide a glimpse into the birth of youth culture.
Director
Matt Wolf
Producer
Andrew Goldman, Ben Howe, Kyle Martin
Screenwriter
Jon Savage, Matt Wolf
Distributor
Oscilloscope Pictures
Production Co
Cinereach
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Mar 14, 2014, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Sep 17, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA)
$19.5K
Runtime
1h 20m
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