Review of The Diary of a Teenage Girl (2015) by Jenna I — 01 Jan 2016

The allusion to Patty Hearst really summed up the point of this film: how and why can somebody fall in love with their kidnappers? Or to put it another way, this movie is essentially Lolita but written from Lolita's point of view. I loved how this movie highlights the inherent contradictions of growing up female- the blind groping for power in a system that's designed to render you kept and powerless- but also incorporating an honest depiction of that universal struggle of understanding sex and sexual desires as a teenager.

Really fantastic direction by Heller, beautiful mood and colors throughout and great touches of fantasy and humor to keep you in that naive teenage perspective of easily what could have been a horror film.