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.
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 (Bel Powley) has eyes for her mom's boyfriend, Monroe (Alexander Skaarsgard). |
 |
| 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.
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