Review of The Diary of a Teenage Girl (2015) by Kyle B — 29 Aug 2015

One of the most honest and well needed coming of age films I have seen. Bel Powley is a remarkable breakout in this movie. She is really interesting as an actress and she never bores you with anything she does or says.

The screenplay is brilliant adapted from a graphic novel of all things, keeping the look and feel of a graphic novel with beautiful sequences of animation. It's really well written in the sense of conversations with one's self about discovery, sex, and sexuality as a teenager and what is right and wrong when it comes to sexual thinking.

Alexander Skarsgard is truly phenomenal transitioning that amazing charm he had on True Blood into the movies that has made him a force to be reckon with this performance. It's one of the better Supporting Actor performances this year.

Kristen Wiig continues to peal layers of her acting abilities in every genre she can get her hands on. She provides great comedic relief and steals the scenes she is in as she is known to do but she shows her powerhouse dramatic skills as well.

For a movie about a teenage girl, I found myself really relating to the things this character asked herself about the world. Like I said, it's truly some of the most honest writing I've heard in a movie in along time with The End of the Tour which I saw the night before this.

The director, Marille Heller, does a terrific job with this challenging material as her directorial debut. I can't wait to see what she has up her sleeves as a filmmaker. In a year where Me and Earl and the Dying Girl AND Diary of a Teenage Girl come out, the Coming of Age film genre is looking good these days and I hope we get to see more of these stories about real people and not teenagers that look like they belong on an H&M build board.