Our teenage years are one long hormonal high, where nearly all of our decisions are made through a haze of estrogen, testosterone, and progesterone. Hormonal Highs is a collection of six hot-and-heavy movies exploring the heady days of adolescence, from a famous dance floor in New York to an isolated Blue Lagoon, and a modern take on Dangerous Liaisons.
1. CRUEL INTENTIONS (1999)
Cruel Intentions would give a late-90s teen audience a dark, twisted, modern take on Dangerous Liaisons. Here, the Vicomte de Valmont and Marquise de Merteuil were transformed into two privileged Manhattan step-siblings, Sebastian (Ryan Phillippe) and Kathryn (Sarah Michelle Gellar). Following a salacious bet involving a car and anal sex, Sebastian and Katherine launch a deadly sexual game involving a new girl in town, Annette Hargrove (Reese Witherspoon) and the wide-eyed Cecile Caldwell (Selma Blair). Cruel Intentions is a sordid tale of wealth, manipulation, sex and control that has never been equalled or matched in its Machiavellian teenage creativity.
By the late ’90s, filmmakers were joyously pushing the boundaries of what was deemed acceptable in teen filmmaking and storytelling. Cruel Intentions is a prime example of this newfound bravery. It’s a movie a whole generation slyly watched while their parents were out, but more than that, it’s a dark, wicked and highly sexual teenage tale that would redefine the boundaries of the teen movie.
2. THE BLUE LAGOON (1980)
Watching The Blue Lagoon today is just as confusing an experience as it was in 1980. After all, Randal Kleiser’s third major picture as a director couldn’t be more different from the revved engines and leather pants of Grease (1978).
Kleiser’s adaptation of Henry De Vere Stacpoole’s book was not the first, as there were two previous versions in 1923 and 1949. But it was the first attempt to dig into the challenging sexual themes found in Stacpoole’s work. After all, this is the story of two cousins marooned on a desert island as children who grow into young lovers and then become parents. It’s the story of what happens when ‘society’ is absent in the lives of children and adolescents as they develop. But unlike Lord of the Flies, The Blue Lagoon is not interested in themes of violence or control but in the formation of sexuality. It is, therefore, all the more confusing that The Blue Lagoon has the spirit of a live-action Disney movie and the soul of a ’70s soft-core porn flick.
The result is a strange blend of Disney-esque innocence, sex, and clunky dialogue that, while epic in construction, feels utterly confused in delivery. Here, the leads, Christopher Atkins and Brooke Shields, often feel exploited through a modern lens, with their looks and bodies far more important than the story at play. But for many teens, The Blue Lagoon and its stars were the foundation of their own sexual awakening, as a strange survival drama became a VHS essential for a whole generation.
3. AFTERSCHOOL (2008)
If Michael Haneke’s Benny’s Video observed and dissected the arrival of video culture and home filmmaking among early-1990s teens, Antonio Campos’ 2008 feature debut, Afterschool, explored the rise of internet porn, instant video sharing, and YouTube. Antonio Campos paints a disturbing picture of a newly emerging adolescence in which online and offline personas merge. At Campos’ prestigious boarding school, parents step in when needed, and the truth is often an inconvenience that comes at a cost.
In the hands of his young lead, Ezra Miller, a boy mildly obsessed with a new world of online porn and violence, Campos dissects the world of instant media against a backdrop of a growing wealth divide and increasing social paranoia. The resulting journey is profoundly uncomfortable but ahead of its time as it explores sex as a digital commodity and truth as an obstacle to progress. Here, the young people at the heart of the story are both manipulated and manipulators in a brave new world.
4. 54: DIRECTOR’S CUT (2015)
Sex sells. Disco entrepreneurs Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager understood the importance of sex in putting on a show everyone wanted to be a part of in the creation of Studio 54.
54 wasn’t just a club; it was a lifestyle, a fever dream, and an escape. It offered the rich an opportunity to meet the beautiful and the beautiful a chance to woo the rich in a club where rules didn’t apply. In 1998, director Mark Christopher and stars Mike Myers and Ryan Phillippe brought the hedonistic glory of Studio 54 to the big screen with the story of a New Jersey boy caught in the headlights of Rubell’s disco empire.
54 was slated by critics, with many criticising Philippe’s character, while others pointed to a lack of raw sex appeal and subversive energy. But it soon became clear that the theatrical version had been butchered by its executive producer, Harvey Weinstein, with the queer undercurrents all but removed for its cinema release. Thankfully, in 2015, 54 was put back together using rescued footage. While it’s not perfect due to the degraded video, Mark Christopher’s homage to hedonism, sexual freedom, and disco finally had its long-overdue moment in the spotlight.
5. RAW (2016)
Teenager Justine (Garance Marillier) may be a vegetarian as Raw opens. Still, after eating a rabbit kidney as part of a college hazing ritual, she quickly develops a taste for meat that can’t be controlled. French director Julia Ducournau’s debut feature isn’t just a delicious slice of modern horror; it’s a veritable banquet of discussions on sexual hunger and female empowerment. In Ducournau’s wild, vivid and gory celebration of womanhood, the body horror of Cronenberg is mixed with a genuinely unique exploration of a girl’s sexual awakening.
Ducournau explores the erotic nature of Justine’s insatiable new appetite before launching into a genuinely horrific final act where sex, desire and hunger take control. Like Bones and All, it’s clear not everyone will survive this buffet of body parts and discovery, but it’s also clear that Justine’s newfound confidence in her desires and wants knows no bounds.
6. THIS IS NOT BERLIN (2019)
From the Kama Sutra to Michelangelo’s David, sex is art, and art is sex. Throughout history, desire, beauty, and allure have been explored through various media, including paintings, literature, sculpture, clay, performance, photography, and film. Hari Sama’s semi-autobiographical This is Not Berlin is alive with sex and rebellion, the intoxicating spirit of art and the energy of 1980s counter-culture. By intertwining the classic coming-of-age movie with an exploration of a newly emerging national identity and sexual freedom, Sama’s film captures the moment when adolescent rebellion and art converge on the streets of Mexico City.
Since childhood, Carlos (Xabiani Ponce de León) and Gera (José Antonio Toledano) have been classmates and close friends. Carlos lives with his younger brother and mother, who suffers from severe depression. In contrast, Gera’s home life is stable, with his well-off parents providing for all his needs. Despite their different home lives, Gera and Carlos hold a deep friendship. Gera is fiery, volatile and rebellious, while Carlos is quiet and thoughtful. But as they sneak into an underground music club, both boys are about to find their lives, passions and loves thrown into a new and exciting adult world of rebellion, drugs, sex, and art just as AIDS rips through the city.
Sama beautifully captures the vulnerability of young people taking their first steps into an exciting yet dangerous world, as Carlos and Gera’s friendship changes forever in a city that never sleeps.
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