Whether you’re graduating this year, or have a special person in your life who is, or even if you’re just looking for some misty-eyed nostalgia since it’s graduation season right now, there’s nothing better sometimes than watching an iconic movie. If you want to host a graduation film festival, or just have your own personal movie marathon, here are some ideas to get you started. Our resident cineaste and intrepid correspondent Abbie Martin Greenbaum has curated a list of the 12 best movies about high school and college graduation to watch right now.
what are the most iconic movies about high school and college graduation?
It’s almost that time of the year. And by that we mean: graduation season.
Best and most iconic films and movies about high school and college graduation to watch right now, for new graduates and their families.
Whether you’re finishing up high school, college, or a graduate degree, you deserve a celebration – and make it an extra-special celebration, because you survived the chaos of attending school through the pandemic. Congratulations! We hope that you are proud of yourself.
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Of course, we know that graduation can also be a scary time. You’re leaping from one liminal space to the next – wading through the waters of one life’s biggest transitions. You may be feeling uncertain and overwhelmed. And you may be looking for some guidance.
Well, we have good news for you. We’ve all been there. And so have the characters in these twelve excellent films.
Best and most iconic films and movies about high school and college graduation to watch right now, for new graduates, friends and family.
These graduation movies fall into two main categories. The ones about the before: the infinite energy and potential that seniors feel before they are released into “the real world.” And of course, the ones about the after – the strange vacuum, the feeling lost, that often goes hand-in-hand with coming of age.
If any of this sounds familiar to you, then these stories might be just what you need right now.
The 12 best movies about high school and college graduation to watch right now
1. The Graduate
Still the definitive post-grad film, and our number one suggestion. In Mike Nichols’ timeless classic, Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) is a recent grad who has no idea what he wants to do with his life. While staying at his parents’ house, he finds himself involved in an affair with one of their friends – the now-infamous Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft). And in a relationship with her daughter (Katharine Ross). Though the movie may suggest a rather extreme version of the graduate’s existential crisis, the accompanying emotions all still ring true today.
2. Cooley High
Michael Shultz’ classic coming of age film shows a group of Chicago friends in their last year of high school – a time of romance, parties, and having a good time. However, before best friends Cochise (Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs) and Preach (Glynn Turman) can make their way across the graduation stage, a horrible tragedy incinerates their blissful last year of school. Cooley High manages to capture the difficult truth of the senior year: behind those twelve months of carefree joy, the sorrows of the real world are often lurking.
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3. Better Luck Tomorrow
Before there was Fast & Furious, there was Better Luck Tomorrow – Justin Lin’s directorial debut, and canonical origin story of Sung Kang’s Han. Burned out, a group of extremely hard-working high school seniors turn to a life of crime – crimes that escalate until they become, well, deadly. Lin’s film captures the extremities of this particular time, and how everything can feel – or in this case, actually be – life or death. And how everything after can seem so uncertain.
4. Booksmart
Most of the films on this list are about the times before and after graduation. Well, Olivia Wilde’s Booksmart is about the day itself. Sort of. Best friends Amy and Molly (Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein) are on a mission: on the eve of their high school graduation, they want to do something they have not had time for in four hard years of studying – go to a party. And though they may succeed, over the course of their night they will also have to confront the possibility of leaving each other behind – for many, the hardest part of graduation.
5. Premature
Writer and director Rashaad Ernesto Green encapsulates the strange magic and heartache of a very specific time: the summer between high school and college. When Ayanna (Zora Howard) meets Isaiah (Joshua Boone), an older man who is new to New York, she falls head over heels in love with him. In exploring Ayanna’s first experience with young love, the film is able to express that first taste of adulthood – when every emotion feels more vivid, and every consequence that much more dire.
What movies to watch about graduation. Courtesy Photo.
6. Hearts Beat Loud
Of course, graduation is not necessarily hardest on the graduate– sometimes, it’s hardest on the parents. At least, that is true in the case of Frank Fisher (Nick Offerman), a widower and record store-owner who does not want his only child, Sam (Kiersey Clemons), to leave for college. In fact, he encourages her to start a band with him – with the hopes that, when their music takes off, she will want to stay. Brett Haley’s sweet movie will warm your heart, and sooth the pains of separation.
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7. Y Tu Mamá También
Alfonso Cuarón’s iconic film has all the makings of a perfect graduation story. With their girlfriends gone for the summer, teenage best friends Tenoch and Julio (Diego Luna and Gael Garciá Bernal) take a summer road trip with an older woman (Maribel Verdú). Over the course of their journey, they learn more about themselves and each other than perhaps they had ever cared to. Coming of age can sometimes mean growing apart from the people we thought we were closest to – and Cuarón’s masterpiece speaks to that feeling in the most authentic and compelling of ways.
8. Try Harder!
Almost every film on this list is (understandably) guilty of romanticizing the wonders of life at school. So of course, we had to include one documentary to remind us that it isn’t all fun and games. Debbie Lum’s 2021 film shows the incredible stress faced by high schoolers as they apply for colleges – stress that has increased exponentially over the past few decades. If you want a movie that reminds you that actually, it’s a good thing that your high school days are behind you, this should be your watch.
9. Real Women Have Curves
America Ferrera plays Ana Garciá, a high school senior who dreams of going to college – but whose mother, Carmen (Lupe Ontiveros), wants Ana to stay home and help with the family business. Graduation can often mean drawing a line in the sand between ourselves and our families, and choosing our own road for the first time – and Patricia Cardoso’s film speaks to the heartbreak of such a difficult decision.
10. Selah and the Spades
During high school – and especially during senior year of high school – the stakes always feel sky-high. And that is definitely the case for Selah (Lovie Simone), the queen bee of Tayarisha Poe’s coming of age film. At Selah’s elite boarding school, she runs a faction called the Spades – a group that sells drugs to their less popular peers. But when the arrival of new student Paloma (Celeste O’Connor) threatens the careful balance of the school’s social ecosystem, Selah is forced to plot against her. Poe brings to life the hyper drama of senior year, and the way in which that special time can turn out to be so fragile.
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11. Cha Cha Real Smooth
It makes sense that Cooper Raiff would follow his college-set comedy with a film about what comes next. Well, if you’re Andrew (Raiff), the “next” includes living at home, running the bar and bat mitzvah’s of everyone in his younger brother’s class, and… dating one of the moms. If this description has you thinking The Graduate, you’re both right and wrong – though they trace similar tracks, Cha Cha Real Smooth is a kind-hearted and hopeful movie, full of love for all of its characters.
12. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
You know Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Of course you do. And if it’s been a while, your graduation – or somebody else’s – might be the perfect occasion for a re-watch. After all, your passage from the world of adolescence into the world of adults is as good a moment as any to remind yourself to stop and look around once in a while – so that you don’t miss it.
The 12 best movies about graduation to watch right now
That’s our take on the the best and most iconic films and movies about high school and college graduation to watch right now, for new graduates and those hoping to recapture some magic. You’re ready for your own film festival or movie marathon this graduation season! Enjoy it, dear reader.
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Abbie Martin Greenbaum grew up in New York City and currently lives in Brooklyn, where she drinks a lot of coffee and matches roommates together for a living. At Oberlin College, she studied English and Cinema, which are still two of her favorite things, along with dessert and musical theater. She believes in magic.
