Enter the film community, and you’ll see jeers of derision at new movies; “They don’t make ‘em like they used to,” scream those factions of the internet. There’s merit to the anecdote; practical effects taking backseat to digital, a rubbery grey aesthetic taking precedence over vibrancy and such, but ultimately it’s a fallacy. The newest generation will look back on the films derided for not being “like they used to be” and it’ll continue its cyclical discoursed existence. One such argument around this concept is within the coming-of-age movie; that kids no longer play outside and that they have instance access to Google and technology, which would fix plot issues too easily or ruin iconic jokes (imagine if in The Goonies the mum just used google translate instead of letting Mouth translate).
There have been coming-of-age films in recent years that buck this idea; Bo Burnham’s Eighth Grade captured the anxiety of the internet generation and Sean Baker’s The Florida Project explored the lives of children removed from the same privileged use of technology. But neither one of these films feel like those 80’s flicks we burnt out our VHS players playing. Weston Razooli’s feature debut Riddle of Fire does, and it plays as an antidote to the argument, sending the story’s modern-day children on an adventure ripped straight from the pages of a dungeon master’s script, Razooli extracting the exact vibe of the adventure movies that stimulated an entire generation’s imagination.
This review was first posted on March 14th 2024. Full review linked below.
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