cinematic roots of: ‘Flipped’

No movie springs from a vacuum. There are always influences from past examples of the genre, from the previous work of the filmmakers and stars, even from similar films that don’t quite work. If you want to understand where a movie is coming from, take a look at where it’s coming from.

In Flipped, a teenaged boy (Callan McAuliffe) and a teenaged girl (Madeline Carroll) in suburban 1960s America learn how tough falling in love can be. This flick sprang from (among other films):

• My Girl (1991), for another story about a powerful friendship between a girl (Anna Chlumsky) and a boy (Macaulay Culkin), and about navigating the tough years of early adolescence.

• Lucas (1986), in which a teenaged boy (Corey Haim) learns what heartbreak is when his best friend (Charlie Sheen) falls in love with the girl he’s also in love with.

• Stand by Me (1986), for Rob Reiner’s other look at the borderland between childhood and adulthood, about the last boyhood adventure of a gang of friends.

• My Life as a Dog (1985), for a retro childhood tale with an European twist, about a boy in 1950s Sweden who comes of age over a summer away from his family and among strangers.