Highly Overrated But Still Good

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

The Diary Of A Teenage GirlTrying to find out its originality and reason beings by seeking, experimenting or even smelling the unknown is one of the finest detailed context ever to be mentioned on screen. The Diary Of A Teenage Girl is beautifully written and adapted but more importantly it's execution is something that sweeps away the attention. Marielle Heller is surprisingly amazing on her directorial debut, and works with conviction in each and every frame of it. Bel Powley is quite convincing on her teenage depiction and is supported with great performances by Alexander Skarsgård and Kirsten Wiig. The Diary Of A Teenage Girl is short (just around 100 minutes), to-the-point, perfectly edited and supervised with enormous amount of care and passion towards the art.

The title "The Diary of a Teenage Girl" sounds like it would entail a fairly tame iteration on a female coming-of-age story, yet Marielle Heller's debut as both writer and director happens to be the boldest coming-of-age indie ever made – and the most challenging."Diary" stars Bel Powley as Minnie, a 15-year-old aspiring cartoonist in 1970s San Francisco looking for an opportunity to lose her virginity. She does, and it comes in the form of her mother's (Kristen Wiig) boyfriend, Monroe (Alexander Skarsgard). As their illicit relationship becomes more and more involved and complicated, Minnie's relationship with her sexuality – and herself -- becomes equally so.There's no denying that it is difficult to overcome the moral issues of Minnie and Monroe's affair, and it requires of Heller a very sensitive touch and an iron-clad sense of purpose. She sugarcoats nothing for those with delicate sensibilities. There are a lot of sex scenes that by their very nature will make viewers uncomfortable, but Heller successfully avoids exploiting the character or veering off-message. She treats Minnie as an adult, and in her writing, it's clear that neither character is solely responsible or solely to blame for the relationship. The hardest thing to shake, as a viewer, is our tendency to be moral judges of Minnie's decisions and to hold notions of what the consequences should or will be for her actions. Switching gears and abandoning that approach to watching this story will be harder for some than others, but once it becomes clear that Heller's vision is completely judgment free, it becomes easier to embrace that aspect of the film.Naturally, the explicit nature "The Diary of a Teenage Girl" makes it instantly different than most coming-of-age movies. The usual archetypes associated with this sub-genre are much less ubiquitous, and the notion of a "loss of innocence" in the literary sense gets completely redefined here considering Minnie actively plays a role in it. The '70s time frame is a bit of a clue that this is not a movie intended for budding teenagers, rather for people who have already been through such formative, challenging experiences. Further evidence: the story comes from Phoebe Gloeckner's semi- autobiographical graphic novel of the same name.The maturity of the film, especially as it sees Minnie, requires a lot of Powley. She must be wide-eyed and optimistic, yet also advanced for her age and kind of devious. She must be sure of herself, yet unsure at various moments throughout the film. Powley (22 at the time of filming) is just old enough to get it down pat. As much as Minnie has flaws, we never come to despise her, and that credit belongs to the writing. There's a poetry to the diary narration in the film, but it's language that resonates. So much of what Minnie thinks and feels mirrors our own experiences (especially the insecurities), even if those experiences weren't as scandalous.Because we see the supporting characters from Minnie's perspective, they have to work harder to earn our empathy. It's virtually impossible for Skarsgard to earn it as Monroe, but he does convey that Monroe is a deeply lost, childlike soul. Wiig, on the other hand, does an impressive job in this non-traditional role for her as the mom, Charlotte. Charlotte does hard drugs with friends and says all the wrong things to her daughter, but her love for Minnie is apparent as are her other struggles. Her lack of affection and approval of Minnie undoubtedly has a hand in her desire to seek it through Monroe and others through sex.The animated graphic elements styled after the novel are excellent, if not underutilized. At the same time, adding this facet to the movie creates a slight bombardment of storytelling styles. You have the narration piece, the cartoon/animation piece and then the fact that this is a movie. It splinters the film's identity a bit, but all these media have something to offer the viewer in conveying Minnie's journey and experiences.Where Minnie arrives at the end of the movie is pretty satisfying and inspiring, even if you have to wonder whether a 15-year-old is really capable of arriving there. The story has a strong feminist message that people still struggle to learn, and has real-world value. It took some really uncomfortable, traumatic stuff for her to get there, but her self-discovery is more poignant than most of her indie coming-of-age peers.~Steven CThanks for reading! Visit Movie Muse Reviews for more

Writer-director Marielle Heller gives us an almost voyeuristic look at a teen looking for self discovery. Minnie (Bel Powley) has no real self assurances, but finds her sexuality beginning to be a portal for her deeper discovery. She finds something in viewing herself in the mirror, but what would it feel like to have a lover's touch? Her artwork allows her to reach out to a female comic-creator (Susannah Schulman), and she records thoughts in her diary. She is desperate to share her experiences with someone in order to actually understand herself. Her friend, Kimmie (Madeline Waters), shares the adventure into sexuality. To boost her own sexual experience, Minne enters an affair with her mother's 35 yr-old boyfriend (Alexander Kkarsgard). Minnie is impulsive and craves sex; she has much to provide to pages of her diary.This movie earns its R rating with strong sexual content, graphic nudity, drug use and raw language. I found it worth watching more than once. A mood elevating soundtrack features: Mott The Hoople, T. Rex and the Dwight Twilley Band.Also in the cast: Kristen Wiig, Miranda Bailey, Abby Wait, John Parsons and Carson D. Mell.

I came into this film with little to no indication about its source material or the tones it would present me with. I can now say I am eagerly going in search of the graphic novel that this film is based off. Firstly I want to talk about the cinematography for this feature, it is truly breathtaking in some scenes. I myself hope to become a cinematographer and looking at the care and clear passion put in by all crew, the shots all looked beautiful and breathed soul. The warm colours that reminds us of the 70's era were subtle enough to bring us into the films setting whilst not feeling too jarring or distracting.The animation was well used and superb, they were utilized to their fullest, almost as characters themselves, driving the story on- wards. Minnie was also very likable despite her very quirky and almost unrelatable behavior, however it was so refreshing to see a coming of age film really explore female sexuality and what love means to young women. Whether all of us can relate to the severity of her emotions and desires is irrelevant, we all have a bit of Minnie in us when it comes to growing up and that's what keeps you watching throughout the more graphic sex scenes. The rest of the cast including the important Monroe were also stellar, fantastic seeing Kristen Wiig in a more serious and layered roll as Minnie's mother. Monroe was also more complicated than your standard forbidden lover, he seemed to have a deep loneliness throughout the film that could be seen between his sexual aggression that really made you wonder how bad the whole situation was. I am sorry I can't go more in depth however this is best experienced than explained. Everyone will take something from this film, whether it be the messages about love and dependence or about appreciating the struggles we all go through as teenagers that seem so small now. I loved this movie, may not be to everyone's tastes but I thought it was a loving, engaging and overall beautiful film.