The Diary of a Teenage Girl

As a means of earning some much needed supplemental income, I often work with a lot of teenagers throughout the week at a local high school in south Austin. Sometimes I'm simply a substitute teacher but at other times I'm in essence a social worker who's sole purpose is to keep kids from killing or impregnating one another. And more often than I'd like to admit, I find myself searching for the future strippers of the world. Not that I like strippers or even strip clubs; it's just that I find it slightly amusing and at the same time fairly depressing when a kid's destiny is written all over their face.

I promise it's not as creepy as it sounds. It's just that I can't help but giggle when a girl shows up to school bobbing her head to some Rick Ross while wearing a short skirt and the infamous stripper perfume. Sometimes I just want to "accidentally" drop a dollar on the floor to see what will happen next. I kid, I kid. Please don't call the authorities! Besides, if this was the year 1893 my behavior would be considered perfectly normal by most of society's standards. Back then creepy old men traditionally sought out young 16 year old girls to be their wives; I saw the movie The Color Purple.

So what does any of this potentially damaging personal information have to do with The Diary of a Teenage Girl? Well in this wonderfully challenging movie we meet the young and vivacious Minnie. She's a passionate 15 year old girl who's just discovering her sexuality in the what most people consider to be the romance capital of the U.S. in San Francisco. It all starts one night when her mother's boyfriend accidentally brushes his hand on her breast while they're watching a movie. It's at that moment she realizes her desire to be constantly touched and loved by a man. And from that point on, she's hooked and proceeds to seduce him.

On the surface this sounds like a wet dream of Colin Farrell's, but in reality it's just a honest look into this young girl's journey to adulthood. I have absolutely zero idea of what all goes through the mind of a teenage girl but this movie is based on a book written by a woman and it's screenplay was written by the female director Marielle Heller. So I will defer to them on the accuracy of the content. Heller does an amazing job of showing how Minnie boldly acts on her desires while at the same time harbors the same insecure feelings that most teenagers would have when falling for their first love. She is able to do all of this without ever glorifying or even condemning underage sex.

But you clearly see how someone of Minnie's age isn't ready to handle all of the emotions that come with sex as her mother and obviously her mother's boyfriend (Monroe played by Alexander Skarsgard) still seem to struggle with it themselves. I'll leave it to you to form your own opinion
 about Monroe; but just know that everyone is not going to walk out of the theater with the same view of him. Heller is great at not painting a judgmental portrait of any of the characters in this story.

I thought this was a solid film that tastefully tackled a fairly controversial issue; and it managed to do so it a funny, moving, and visually stunning manner. I rate this movie as FRESH and I suggest you go see it.