DbcultAccessing Vault...
6/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. The Age of Consent remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you're looking for a heavy, life-changing cinematic experience, maybe keep walking. This is for people who enjoy watching vintage campus dramas where everyone talks a bit too fast and the stakes are mostly just who is going to the dance with whom. If you hate anything that feels slightly dated or moralizing, stay far away. 🎓
The whole thing is basically a collection of college kids trying to figure out how to be adults. It’s got that specific 1930s charm where the sets look like painted cardboard and the dialogue sounds like it was written by someone who hasn't actually talked to a teenager in twenty years.
Betty Grable is in it, which is obviously a treat. She has this way of looking at the camera that makes you forget the plot is going absolutely nowhere. It’s not deep, but it doesn't need to be.
There is this one scene in the library that drags on for what feels like an hour. You can practically hear the clock ticking on the wall. I think the actor was trying to look thoughtful, but he just ended up looking like he forgot his lines halfway through a sentence. It’s weirdly endearing.
I kept thinking about After Your Own Heart while watching this. Both films have that same frantic energy where characters run into rooms for no reason other than to keep the pacing moving. It's not necessarily a bad thing, just a bit exhausting.
Sometimes the movie gets so caught up in being a 'lesson' about responsibility that it forgets to actually be a movie. You can feel the writers nudging you in the ribs, saying, 'See? This is what happens when you make bad choices!' It’s a bit much.
Still, there's something about the black and white aesthetic that just works for this kind of fluff. It’s like eating candy for dinner. Not nutritious, but you don't really regret it once it's over. 🍭
I did notice the lighting in the third act gets really moody for no apparent reason. It’s like the director decided suddenly, 'Okay, now we are doing a noir film!' and then forgot about it five minutes later. Whatever. It looked cool.
This isn't a masterpiece. It's just a snapshot of a different time. If you want to kill an hour watching people in suits and fancy dresses argue about romance, you could do way worse.
