Review of The Diary of a Teenage Girl (2015) by Robert B — 12 Jan 2016

The big interesting takeaway I had from this film (which was quite excellent, by the way) was that it was a surprisingly insightful look into what the 1970?s teen scene was like. Women were feeling more empowered and less reliant on their husbands and of course it would bleed into their kids to feel the same way.

Seeing a sexually-experimental young girl was also a really interesting experience, because as you watch, her choices don't seem gross or skanky as other characters respond to her that way. We're in her head and hearing her logic so it's just a near-adult girl trying our her body. But then that's contrasted with a couple experiences she has that turn out for the worse and this kind of hard-slap of reality makes you realize some sexual rabbit holes go pretty deep.

Either way, great performances from the entire cast, especially Bel Powley. Really excellent job bringing this sexual, but young character to life. The other aesthetic I really loved was the cinematography: it had this really smoky old-film look to it that seems to really bring the setting of 70?s San Fran to life and look great.