Submit Your: Top Ten Kids in Film

By Adam Kuntavanish
January 2, 2013 Top Ten 7 Comments

Coming-of-age is one of the great narratives in art, and young people have only become more flushed with disposable income to pump into cinemas and for DVDs, so it’s no surprise that youths are some of the most frequent subjects of movies. From Chaplin’s The Kid with title character Jackie Coogan and the Andy Hardy cycle starring Mickey Rooney, to a host of 2012 releases like Moonrise Kingdom, I Wish, and Beasts of the Southern Wild, films that explore a pre-adult’s emotions and perspective are plentiful but rarely rise above the for-kids-only heap of juvenile junk. So we’re here to celebrate the greats, the kid characters and performances that most fully explore that endlessly fascinating and excitingly crucial stage of life, childhood. Celebrate the start of 2013 by letting us know your thoughts on my first list topic of the year: kids in film.

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By Adam Kuntavanish
Sr. Staff Film Critic & Top Ten Guru: Cinema transcends boundaries of time and space and thought and emotion; at its best it communicates the experience of being truly alive. I've been transfixed by the material ghosts of the movies since an early age, and I can't seem to shake them. Since reading and writing and talking about films are the next best things to watching them, criticism became a natural fit. Whether new or old, foreign or domestic, mainstream or cult, all movies are grist for my mill. Be forewarned, I'm an inveterate list-maker, so look out for rankings, topics, and opinions of all kinds. The AFI's got nothing on me.
  • http://twitter.com/NextProjection Next Projection

    Koki Maeda and Oshiro Maeda – I WISH
    Quvenzhane Wallis – BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
    Thomas Doret – THE KID WITH A BIKE
    Tom Holland – THE IMPOSSIBLE
    Macaulay Culkin – HOME ALONE 1& 2
    Jean-Pierre Léaud – THE 400 BLOWS
    Pascal Lamorisse – THE RED BALLOON
    Max Records – WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE
    Ana Torrent – THE SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE
    Jodie Foster in TAXI DRIVER
    Tatum O’Neal in PAPER MOON

  • http://www.facebook.com/irvin.malcolm Irvin Malcolm Contreras

    Haley Joel Osment – A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
    Haley Joel Osment – THE SIXTH SENSE
    Jean-Pierre Leaud – THE 400 BLOWS
    Jodie Foster – TAXI DRIVER
    Ana Torrent – THE SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE
    Ana Torrent – CRIA CUERVOS
    Nikolai Burlyayev – IVAN’S CHILDHOOD
    David Bennett – THE TIN DRUM
    Ivana Baquero – PAN’S LABYRINTH
    Victoire Thivisol – PONETTE

  • http://twitter.com/Fulmer Fulmer

    Ivana Baquero- PAN’S LABYRINTH

    Tatum O’Neal- PAPER MOON

    Natalie Portman- LEON (THE PROFESSIONAL)

    Jodie Foster- TAXI DRIVER

    Judy Garland- THE WIZARD OF OZ

    Hailee Steinfeld- TRUE GRIT

    Quvenzhane Wallis- BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD

    Mary Badham- TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

    River Phoenix- STAND BY ME

    Martin Stephens- VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED

  • http://twitter.com/Fulmer Fulmer

    David Bennet….Good call.

  • http://twitter.com/adam_the_k Adam K

    These past few years alone have been great for this category, huh?

  • http://twitter.com/MibIH Lee Relph

    Sae-ron Kim- A BRAND NEW LIFE / MAN FROM NOWHERE

    Nina Kervel-Bey – BLAME IT ON FIDEL

    Guadalupe Alonso – THE LAST SUMMER OF LA BOYITA

    Zoé Héran / Malonn Lévana – TOMBOY

    Bowen Dong – LITTLE RED FLOWERS

    Kåre Hedebrant / Lina Leandersson – LET THE RIGHT ONE IN

  • http://twitter.com/adam_the_k Adam K

    Some excellent recent choices. Loved the leads in LET THE RIGHT ONE IN.