While this film wasn't nearly as groundbreaking as Moonlight, Kelly Fremon Craig is still a force to be reckoned with, though this film wasn't anything special, it was still incredibly enjoyable.
Nadine Franklin (Hailee Steinfeld) is a character that I can relate to, though I certainly didn't know what a hand job was when I was seventeen, nor did I ever threaten suicide. She is an old soul but her taste in clothing is worse than mine. She doesn't have many friends and her world is rocked when her dearest friend Krista (the underused Haley Lu Richardson) starts to date Nadine's popular and put together brother, Darian (Blake Jenner, great). She also crushes on this unworthy boy, Nick (Alexander Cavert) who only wants sex, while ignoring the far more worthy Erwin (Hayden Szeto), despite the name. He is only slightly socially awkward but sweet even though his timing isn't spectacular, at least until the end.
While most of this film is just Nadine struggling through her junior year of high school, she also realizes that she is selfish, believing that she alone has problems, ignoring everything that her brother and mother (Kyra Sedgwick) might be feeling after the sudden death of her beloved father (Eric Keeleyside) when she was just thirteen. She talks too much, sucking up the air around her and believes she knows everything about everyone else including her favorite teacher Mr. Bruner (Woody Harrelson). She thinks that he is lonely, single, bitter man, getting older each day when in reality he is married and has a young son.
In the end, she apologizes to her brother and starts to mend her relationship with Krista, whom Darian truly does adore and starts a genuine friendship with Erwin, not the one where she mostly used him earlier. Her mother also accepts that Nadine is only able to meet her halfway, for now.
Now, I do have some problems with the film, like the exact nature of Mona's (Nadine's mother's) mental illness. She does have something ever so off with her, but it doesn't completely affect her from dating heavily on Match.com and working a successful job. And when Nadine's meet-up with Nick goes horribly as I knew it would, she calls Mr. Bruner but he takes her back to his house and calls her mother from there. Darian shows up and Nadine refuses to get into the car with him, so Mr. Bruner ends up taking her home anyway, something he should have done in the first place.
Still, these are minor nitpicks. The acting is excellent and it is genuinely enjoyable, with Steinfeld certainly being one of the best actresses of her generation. Grade: B+
No comments:
Post a Comment