The best movies about broken teenagers
My favorite movies about depressed, sad, broken, suicidal and lost teenagers.
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- DirectorStephen ChboskyStarsLogan LermanEmma WatsonEzra MillerCharlie, a 15-year-old introvert, enters high school and is nervous about his new life. When he befriends his seniors, he learns to cope with his friend's suicide and his tumultuous past.
- DirectorJan KomasaStarsJakub GierszalRoma GasiorowskaAgata KuleszaAfter suffering extreme humiliation at school, Dominik holes himself up in his room and begins spending all his time in a virtual reality chat room.
- DirectorSofia CoppolaStarsKirsten DunstJosh HartnettJames WoodsA group of male friends become obsessed with five mysterious sisters who are sheltered by their strict, religious parents in suburban Detroit in the mid 1970s.
- DirectorJohn HughesStarsEmilio EstevezJudd NelsonMolly RingwaldFive high school students meet in Saturday detention and discover how they have a great deal more in common than they thought.
- DirectorDarren AronofskyStarsEllen BurstynJared LetoJennifer ConnellyThe drug-induced utopias of four Coney Island people are shattered when their addictions run deep..
- CreatorJamie BrittainBryan ElsleyStarsKaya ScodelarioNicholas HoultJoe DempsieThe story of a group of British teens who are trying to grow up and find love and happiness despite questionable parenting and teachers who would rather be friends (and lovers) than authority figures.
- DirectorCatherine HardwickeStarsEvan Rachel WoodHolly HunterNikki ReedA thirteen-year-old girl's relationship with her mother is put to the test as she discovers drugs, sex, and petty crime in the company of her cool but troubled best friend.
- DirectorHideo NakataStarsJacob AndersonMatthew AshfordeDorothy AtkinsonFive teenagers with different personalities are introduced to one another in a chatroom called "Chelsea Teens!" But one shows its darker side, threatening the others' lives.
- DirectorJames MangoldStarsWinona RyderAngelina JolieClea DuVallA directionless teenager, Susanna, is rushed to Claymoore, a mental institution, after a supposed suicide attempt. There, she befriends a group of troubled women who deeply influence her life.
- DirectorGia CoppolaStarsEmma RobertsJames FrancoJack KilmerAn unflinching portrait of adolescent lust, boredom, and self-destruction that centers around a shy young girl on the cusp of an illicit relationship with her soccer coach.
- DirectorRichard AyoadeStarsCraig RobertsSally HawkinsPaddy Considine15-year-old Oliver Tate has two objectives: to lose his virginity before his next birthday, and to extinguish the flame between his mother and an ex-lover who has resurfaced in her life.
- DirectorRebecca ThomasStarsJulia GarnerLiam AikenBilly ZaneRachel, a teenager born and raised in her Mormon community, believes that she has been inpregnated by listening to music and must get to Vegas to find the "father" of her miracle baby.
- DirectorSofia CoppolaStarsKatie ChangIsrael BroussardEmma WatsonInspired by actual events, a group of fame-obsessed teenagers use the internet to track celebrities' whereabouts in order to rob their homes.
- DirectorAlfonso Gomez-RejonStarsThomas MannRJ CylerOlivia CookeHigh schooler Greg, who spends most of his time making parodies of classic movies with his co-worker Earl, finds his outlook forever altered after befriending a classmate who has just been diagnosed with cancer.
- DirectorGregg ArakiStarsBrady CorbetJoseph Gordon-LevittElisabeth ShueTwo pre-adolescent boys both experienced a strange event and later it affects their lives in different ways. One becomes a reckless, sexually adventurous prostitute, while the other retreats into a reclusive fantasy of alien abduction.
- DirectorDestin Daniel CrettonStarsBrie LarsonFrantz TurnerJohn Gallagher Jr.A 20-something supervising staff member of a residential treatment facility navigates the troubled waters of that world alongside her co-worker and longtime boyfriend.
- DirectorSabine BernardiStarsRick OkonMax BefortLiv Lisa FriesA drama centered on the relationship between a two young men, as one of them navigates the difficulties of life as a transgender man.
- DirectorKevin MacdonaldStarsSaoirse RonanTom HollandGeorge MacKayAn American girl, sent to the English countryside to stay with relatives, finds love and purpose while fighting for her survival as war envelops the world around her.
- DirectorHarmony KorineStarsVanessa HudgensSelena GomezAshley BensonFour college girls hold up a restaurant in order to fund their spring break vacation. While partying, drinking, and taking drugs, they are arrested, only to be bailed out by a drug and arms dealer.
- DirectorCharles BinaméStarsEmily OsmentKay PanabakerMeaghan RathA teenager is subjected to a campaign of bullying by classmates through a social networking site.
- DirectorJon PollStarsAnton YelchinRobert Downey Jr.Hope DavisA rich kid becomes the self-appointed psychiatrist to the student body of his new high school.
- DirectorLee DanielsStarsGabourey SidibeMo'NiquePaula PattonIn New York City's Harlem circa 1987, an overweight, abused, illiterate teen who is pregnant with her second child is invited to enroll in an alternative school in hopes that she can re-route her life in a better direction.
- DirectorDavid SladeStarsPatrick WilsonElliot PageSandra OhHayley's a smart, charming teenage girl. Jeff's a handsome, smooth fashion photographer. An Internet chat, a coffee shop meet-up, an impromptu fashion shoot back at Jeff's place. Jeff thinks it's his lucky night. He's in for a surprise.
- DirectorLynne RamsayStarsTilda SwintonJohn C. ReillyEzra MillerKevin's mother struggles to love her strange child despite the increasingly dangerous things he says and does as he grows up. But Kevin is just getting started, and his final act will be beyond anything anyone imagined.
- DirectorDennis GanselStarsJürgen VogelFrederick LauMax RiemeltA high school teacher's experiment to demonstrate to his students what life is like under a dictatorship spins horribly out of control when he forms a social unit with a life of its own.
- DirectorAlmut GettoStarsTino MewesSophie RogallHans-Martin Stier"What does your paradise look like, then?" - "Dark. Quiet. Wet. And full of fish." Jan likes Shakespeare, water and fish. Nina likes roller-skates, cars and brightly dyed hair. Jan loves Nina. Nina loves Jan, but ... Do Fish Do It? is a film about first love, the problems of growing up, the vital question if fish have sex and a threat this love is exposed to. 16-year old Jan is absent-mindedly strolling through the streets when he's run over by roller-skating Nina. As fast as she has stormed into his life, however, she rushes off again. Nina is 15 years old and full of crazy ideas. She lives together with her brother, her father and his new girlfriend. Her mother isn't in touch much. That's why there is the unconventional Angel whose own daughter disappeared years ago and who is Nina's best friend and substitute mother. Jan is a little shy, with a sheltered upbringing. Yet the image of the perfect family is an illusion. Jan feels lonely and the only person who seems to understand him is his grandfather. Jan's great passion is water and fish for they make him forget about his illness. When Jan tries to carry a newly-acquired fish home safely, Nina bumps into him after another failed attempt to brake. As a result, the fish dies. Nina feels guilty, doesn't want to let Jan go. Within a short time they get very close and Nina becomes equally fascinated by water and its scaly inhabitants. They start searching for an answer to the question if fish have sex and secretly meet at night to have picnics at the municipal aquarium. This is not without effect, friendship develops into tender love. Jan's parents, who worry about their son's health, are against the relationship. Only Jan's grandfather stands by him and doesn't begrudge him his happiness. On her birthday Nina learns that her father's girlfriend is pregnant. Appalled, she flees to Jan. For the first time they end up in bed together. Basically a rather innocent encounter but Jan realizes all of a sudden that he's dangerous for Nina and will continue to be so. He withdraws into his dream world - "dark, quiet, wet and full of fish". But Nina won't give up that easily ...
- DirectorLaurent CantetStarsRaven AdamsonKatie CoseniMadeleine BissonSet in the 1950s, a group of young girls in upstate New York form their own gang.
- DirectorJessica SharzerStarsKristen StewartElizabeth PerkinsRichard HagermanAfter a blurred trauma over the summer, Melinda enters high school a selective mute. Struggling with school, friends, and family, she tells the dark tale of her experiences, and why she has chosen not to speak.
- DirectorAnna BodenRyan FleckStarsKeir GilchristZach GalifianakisEmma RobertsA clinically-depressed teenager gets a new start after he checks himself into an adult psychiatric ward.
- DirectorJoel SchumacherStarsChace CrawfordEmma RobertsRory CulkinA young drug dealer watches as his high-rolling life is dismantled in the wake of his cousin's murder, which sees his best friend arrested for the crime.
- DirectorJosh BooneStarsGreg KinnearJennifer ConnellyLily CollinsAn acclaimed writer, his ex-wife, and their teenaged children come to terms with the complexities of love in all its forms over the course of one tumultuous year.
- DirectorGregg ArakiStarsShailene WoodleyEva GreenChristopher MeloniIn 1988, a teenage girl's life is thrown into chaos when her mother disappears.
- DirectorMiguel ArtetaStarsMichael CeraPortia DoubledayJean SmartWhile his trailer trash parents teeter on the edge of divorce, Nick Twisp sets his sights on dream girl Sheeni Saunders, hoping that she'll be the one to take away his virginity.
- DirectorVanessa PariseStarsBella ThorneDaniela BobadillaIsrael BroussardSweet suburban teen Amanda is introduced by her new friends to prescription drug-sharing, but the recreational fun soon leads her to a life-altering heroin addiction.