![]() ![]() ![]() As much as drama watchers know that actors and actresses are just playing roles, once a real life scandal veers into criminal territory of any sort, as opposed to saying the wrong thing or dating the wrong person, then I can’t watch the dramas anymore because the real intrudes too much into the reel. But that instinctive reaction should not continue if the facts make it impossible to keep supporting said star, and in the case of general drama fans it’s not the star itself but the dramas that headlined any scandal plagued star that becomes a sad salute to reel versus real. “The Starling Girl” premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.I understand the gut punch reaction of fans to a star embroiled in a scandal in wanting to make problems go away so as to continue to support said star. Owen tells Jem that enjoying God’s creation is a way of honoring Him, and by the end of this gripping and well-realized drama - which only grows more effective during a confident final act that threatens to strip Jem of her personhood - that teaching becomes the only path by which she might be able to restore some faith in herself. That includes her love for God, which is ultimately too pure for her to understand what part of herself she’s meant to be ashamed of. The Australian actress, whose work in “Babyteeth” and “Little Women” have already established her as a genius of desperate self-becoming, plays Jem as a young woman who feels everything in her life with evangelical intensity. It helps that Scanlen’s performance refuses to let this movie feel trite. Parmet’s decision to firmly anchor this story from Jem’s POV allows “The Starling Girl” to pulse with its young heroine’s ecstasy and confusion, even if the broad predictability of how things play out gives undue weight to the less familiar specifics of Jem’s religious subculture (i.e. We recognize the abuse in action, but how is a girl like Jem - who was raised to believe that taking enjoyment from dancing is sinful - supposed to understand the subtler gradients of right and wrong? The moment when Owen makes Jem spit her gum into his hand both nails the power dynamic between them, and also the pleasure they take in perverting it (a pleasure that Jem later uses to invert that power dynamic as the film enters its layered second act). Jem’s short-sightedness can also be forgiven because Parmet renders the usual beats with the same flushed immediacy that Scanlen brings to every scene. There’s nothing the least bit novel about how Jem and Owen begin to orbit around each other, but she’s too young to see the clichés piling up around them, and he’s too busy exploiting those clichés to care. Played by “Top Gun: Maverick” star Lewis Pullman, whose nuanced and fully convincing performance hinges on a predatory hunkiness that couldn’t be further removed from the nerd-adjacent roles he’s played so far, Owen commands a divine respect that disguises his own susceptibility to temptation. One look at bad boy pastor Owen - fresh back from a missionary trip to Puerto Rico and ready to embrace his destiny as a Jesus-loving Jess Mariano - and Jess can’t help but touch herself under the covers at night. Jem, on the other hand, is just aging into her self-denial. ![]() “When God asks you to give something up it’s just so that you can have more room for him,” Paul tells his daughter on the back lawn of their house one night, but his voice betrays a sacrifice that feels so much bigger than his faith. ![]() Paul begins to spiral after learning about the death of his former bandmate, that B-plot serving as a poignant reminder of the life that Jem’s community forbids its members. Had she ever thought to look for them on there, she might have even stumbled across some old clips of her lighthearted dad (an excellent Jimmi Simpson), a recovering alcoholic who nurtured dreams of being a rock star in his previous life and now spends his nights sneaking back to his iPod with the same furtiveness that he might hide a can of beer. ‘Oppenheimer’ Trailer: Cillian Murphy Self-Destructs in Fiery Christopher Nolan Epic ![]()
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