Saturday, August 22, 2015

Jay Reviews Marielle Heller's "Diary of a Teenage Girl"




Jay here.


It's been a while since I've written anything, it must be said. Lots going on in Jay's life right now with a baby on the way. Also, it must be said, I haven't found a whole lot to write about. The summer at the cinema has been mostly a dud for me. Besides the brilliance of Mad Max: Fury Road and a solid Avengers sequel what was worth the price of admission? I'm sorry, but Jurassic World, while not an awful movie, certainly did not deserve its gluttonous box office return.

I did just see a film that certainly warrants the praise it is getting, though. It's Marielle Heller's directorial debut, Diary of a Teenage Girl. Based on the novel by Phoebe Gloeckner, the film documents the adolescent travails of one Minne Goetze, played with astounding naturalism by British actress, Bel Powley. Minnie is 15 years old and in her first line of narration proudly proclaims to the viewer, "I had sex today".

Heller's film is a frank and brutally honest portrayal of a young girl's sexual awakening in 1970's San Francisco. She lives with a self-obsessed mother (Kristin Wiig) who drinks, snorts coke and parties in front of her daughter with regularity. Her mom is so narcissistic that she manages to overlook the fact that her loafer boyfriend, Monroe (Alexander Skaarsgard) has taken an unhealthy interest in her daughter. Minnie, herself, welcomes the attention. She is obsessed with Monroe and spends most of the movie in a hormonal pursuit of his affection.

Minnie (Bel Powley) has eyes for her mom's boyfriend, Monroe (Alexander Skaarsgard).
 
Don't be fooled, though, Minnie is not just some two-dimensional teen character, out to get laid. She's a multi-layered character, struggling with a multitude of issues. Intimacy, identity and loneliness. And despite the many questionable decisions she is making throughout the film, it all feels like a desperate search for self, rather than an adolescent romp. Most of her deepest thoughts and feelings play out through her art. She's a budding cartoonist who idolizes the work of Aline Kominsky, the famous comic artist who was also the paramour of R. Crumb. The film uses animation liberally to bring Minnie's drawings to life, and the effect adds a great deal. These surrealistic moments give us glimpses into the inner life a young girl on the verge of womanhood.


Minnie discovers the comics of Aline Kominsky


Despite the very adult things that Minnie is doing, she is still very much a child. But Heller is not presenting us with a film that asks us to judge her heroine, or any other character in it. That is not what this movie is about. Presenting Minnie's story in a darkly comical way makes the story seem more real and true. Powley is a revelation here, and quite frankly gives us the best female performance of the year so far. She has a magnetic screen presence and despite the fact she was 23 when the film was shot, she is entirely believable as a 15 year old.

Diary of a Teenage Girl is one of my favorite movies of 2015 so far but it may not be for everyone. It deals with teenage sex in a very frank manner, but not in any way that is cheap or gratuitous. If you have a problem with this sort of subject matter then I'd stay away. But, if you can get past of all that and see this film for what it really is, then you shouldn't miss it. One girl's rocky quest to find a truth that many of us take years to find.  

Before you can really love anyone, maybe it's more important to love yourself.