Cooper Raiff: Modern Day Coming of Age
Cooper Raiff strikes big in another coming of age instant classic.
Cooper Raiff has written, produced, directed, and starred in his second film Cha Cha Real Smooth, and after watching I was thinking to myself two things: “That was really solid”, and “that was a great coming of age movie. “
Being an iconic genre, I wouldn’t say coming of age films have been dead in recent years, but they’re certainly out of their glory days. Just a quick google search shows a lot of memorable classics from the past being coming of age masterpieces whereas today, the critically acclaimed ones seem tragically few and far between, instead opting to call other movies “sort of coming of age for that genre.” Spider-Man Homecoming? It’s a coming of age super hero movie!
Back then we had true coming of age films, movies about kids being lost and learning to find some missing part of their life. The Breakfast Club, The Graduate, Ferris Bueler’s Day Off, Stand By Me, these are coming of age films that stand out in a sea of other masterpieces from their respective decades, and I simply find there to be less true coming of age films nowadays. Nowadays, it feels as though the genre is looked down upon when held up against cinematic giants, Oscar bait, etc. I still haven’t been able to get my mom to watch Lady Bird, a recent film I would consider to truly be coming of age, because no one wants to watch an annoying teenager complain. Apparently. However, Cooper Raiff entered the scene with a spectacular coming of age movie titled Shithouse in 2018, and has followed that up with the aforementioned Cha Cha Real Smooth.
What I love about these films is that they feel like a modern rendition of of the coming of age classics of old. Finally, we have a movie solely about a kid in his freshman year of college learning that college is hard. There’s humor, creativity, originality, and most importantly, beautiful night shots, because every coming of age film has a scene where the characters either wander with their love interest at night or walk around aimlessly. While it sounds cliche, and maybe it is, it’s still incredibly well executed and reminds me of one of the reasons we watch movies: relatability.
This relatability stems from the writing. At its core, the coming of age film is difficult to write because the goal for the characters is very arbitrary, usually not very tangible. In Shithouse we follow the main character on his journey to…understand college? To find out why he’s there? To be less lonely? It’s a mixed back of intangible goals, but that’s exactly why the audience can sympathize. It’s more difficult to relate to pseudo coming of age movies where the main character has to stop a super villain, win a bike race, or even find a dead body in the woods than a story about a guy having a tough time in college. In fact, many have said this film was a perfect reflection of their college years: lonely, lost, trying to find the answers to a missing question, and it’s true. It’s a simple premise that fits the typical coming of age story, especially when a romance is introduced and kickstarts the plot. In Cha Cha Real Smooth, an admittedly wilder concept than Shithouse, we still get that same lost protagonist, one that drifts through life trying to find something that will fix the void in his hearts. These stories are limited in scope, grounded, and focused on a protagonist that is dealing with incredibly relatable issues captured in a deceivingly simple manner. The film engenders the same feelings everyone will face at some point in their life not only through the relatability of the protagonist, but also because of how unapologetically vulnerable the film chooses to be. For a coming of age film one would expect highs and lows of young adulthood to be present, but in Shithouse and Cha Cha Real Smooth, we see our protagonist at the most vulnerable moments of his life. In Shithouse we watch Alex as he is on the verge of tears in a frat, speaking to his stuffed animals, and crying after getting off the phone with his mom. The audience is presented moments they’ve all lived but are too embarrassed to ever admit they’ve experienced. In Cha Cha Real Smooth we see Andrew struggle with letting go of his college lifestyle through alcoholism, disappointing his cute brother, and crying himself to sleep in his parents home. The loneliness, the subsequent tears, the embarrassing tinge that heightens the feeling of being pathetic, it’s all here and presented in raw glory. You get the feeling that Cooper Raiff is showing memories from his own life to the audience due to how real the emotions feel and how exposed his characters are. When Maggie is yelling at Alex to grow up, calling his lonely lifestyle embarrassing and his character childish, I felt hurt because it felt like she was flinging those insults towards me.
All of the raw emotions, relatable protagonist, and grounded aesthetic are bound by truly clever naturalistic dialogue. No scene feels fake, forced, or conjured from a writers mind. There are stutters, interruptions, awkward pauses, truly funny jokes all wound together in the same scene that makes everything feel that much more real, that much more accurate to the lives of the audience and Cooper. Many coming of age films fall flat where Cooper has soared because the dialogue feels unnatural, corny, or overly sentimental, like these twenty somethings are reciting Shakespeare in the park instead of having real conversations, which means the naturalism achieved in these two films is not only impressive, but indispensable for their success. Better yet, there is a very distinct voice in Raiff’s writing, somehow at twenty five the man who plays lost characters has found a style that is uniquely his and infinitely entertaining. This style also manifests in creative situations that give his films an even greater identity, such as the scene in Shithouse where Maggie and Alex bury a dead turtle and in Cha Cha Real Smooth when Andrew and his family beat up up a couple of middle schoolers. Raiff’s style is refined, comedic, and relatable, which makes for a unique and reenergizing return to a tired genre.
What makes these films even more of a joy on top of all the previously mentioned attributes is the contemporary aesthetic. While following in coming of age films of the past with a mostly handheld camera or completely stable with natural light, there are scenes with more unique lighting such as when the protagonist goes to parties or clubs, the iconography of a younger lifestyle captured in colorful fashion. These party scenes aren’t reminiscent of films of the past, and when paired with atmospheric electronic music, the movies feel like a modern coming of age, adding to the relatability, and just making it fun to watch and think “coming of age movies are back.” In Cha Cha Real Smooth there’s references to modern pop culture that are subtle enough to notice, but not so glaring that the movie would feel dated in a couple decades. This modernity captures what it’s like to be young now, and for the new generation of filmmakers, that makes Raiff’s filmography one to admire for years to come, one that refreshes a genre desperately in need of a true to form comeback. That’s why I speak so highly about Raiff’s work so far, he somehow managed to make films that already feel like staples in the coming of age genre by implementing classic elements from films of the past, but have modernized the cliches and added a unique style that makes his movies feel new at the same time. All in all, Raiff has made movies that are certified classics of the genre and are undoubtedly the coming of age films for the next generation, and I can’t wait to see what essential life experience he captures next.