The first recommendation I make here has to go to Richard Ayoade’s “Submarine.” It’s my favorite movie after all. I’m incredibly vulnerable to coming-of-age media because they always remind me of myself no matter how strange it may be.

By strange, I mean that the two protagonists are complete weirdos. In short, this movie is an artsy comedy about a 15-year-old boy named Oliver who is on a quest to lose his virginity, which he eventually does with a girl from school named Jordana.

Oliver and Jordana are wonderfully awkward. They don’t really know how to talk, kiss, or even get along with each other the way that two normal humans do and I think that’s what makes the two so easy to relate to. Especially at that age when you don’t have a clue what’s going on, and you’re susceptible to what the outside world is telling you. You’re just piecing together what you think you know about love and sex from your “more educated” peers or from self-help books because that’s as close as you can get to the real thing.

I cannot talk about Submarine without mentioning the cinematography. It reminds me a lot of French cinema which shows a lot in the various shots of the beach environments sprinkled tenderly throughout the film, mise-en-scène gloriousness all around (see, I did learn something from that French film class I took freshman year). Plus, the film was shot on 35mm, and there’s even a beautiful scene on Super8 that’s just. So. Good.

I don’t know how to end this so I’ll end off on one of the several lines from this film that I can quote by memory:

“Dear Jordana. Thank you for letting me explore your perfect body. I could drink your blood. You are the only person that I would allow to be shrunken down to a microscopic size and swim inside me in a tiny submersible machine. We have lost our virginity but it wasn't like losing anything. You're too good for me, you're too good for anyone. Sincerely, Oliver."