The Starling Girl

This coming-of-age drama follows Jem Starling as she becomes an adult--or at least starts to become an adult. It explores the conflict between Jem's growing awareness of her body and its needs and the beliefs of the fundamentalist church that plays a large part in her life and her family's life. Her family is also a source of conflict: before his conversion, her father had been a musician with a steady gig at a bar in Memphis, and the temptations of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll return after the suicide of one of his former band members. What music is for her father, dance is for Jem and she contrives to lead the church's dance troupe by charming Owen, the church's youth pastor who has just returned from Puerto Rico. Eventually, Owen and Jem begin an affair that is transgressive in almost every possible way: Owen is married, he is the brother of Ben, who is officially courting Jem, and both Owen and Ben are the sons of the church's pastor. The ending is pleasantly ambiguous: we see that Jem follows her powerful need to know about the world and what her place in it ought to be, but not exactly where that takes her.

The cast is very good and Eliza Scanlen, who is in almost every scene, makes a good Jem. Wrenn Schmidt is also excellent as Heidi, Jem's mother who is trying to hold a large family together while her husband and her eldest daughter lose their minds. For many viewers, a fundamentalist church in Kentucky might seem an 'exotic' milieu, but the film doesn't treat its characters like the subjects of an ethnographic expedition. The first half of the film sets the scene at a leisurely pace, but tensions build in the second half as we wonder when the lovers will be discovered and what the consequences will be.

I always suspect in a movie about conservative Christians they are going to be portrayed as small-minded and hypocritical, and that their faith is a lie. And my expectations were not entirely dashed in this film. But there's enough sensitivity and nuance here that I felt like there were sufficient characters, including the lead, who were honestly wrestling with their faith, and the temptations of the secular world. The plot, if somewhat predictable, kept this viewer interested,. The lead was a good combination of the strong, young adult, and the childhood she was just leaving. I certainly recommend watching it at the free Kanopy service.

This movie broke me. Maybe you need to personally relate to the content, but the way in which the relationship between Jem and Own is crafted is nuanced and relatable. The trauma that comes with religious upbringing is powerfully displayed in this movie. In the hands of the screenwriter, director and actors it is deftly dealt with, without forcing an agenda down your throat one way or the other. Pullman and Scanlen achieve the necessary chemistry that you're wholly along for the journey and seem to understand both sides, even if there is a clear villain in this tale. This movie had me thinking about it nonstop for a week now...don't know what my entire conclusion is yet, but I'm so glad it was made.

The plot in and of itself is very simple and has been done many times. Young girl, oppressed - finds her identity through trials and tribulations. It's really a story as old as time itself, so that's not the real focus of this film. The acting and character development is what to focus on while watching.

The setting is mostly outdoor rural Kentucky, within a very strict Christian fundamentalist community, which I found unique and interesting. The focus of the film is the subtle changes in the young girl main protagonist. It's almost like watching a slow motion train wreck, for her and the immature pastor.

Overall it's a slow burn, hard to really review. I just enjoyed the overall ambience and acting. Everything else for me I could take or leave it, but it was entertaining. 5.9/10.

Saw this at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival

"The Starling Girl" is a movie about 17-year-old Jem Starling struggles with her place within her Christian fundamentalist community. But everything changes when her magnetic youth pastor Owen returns to their church. It clears the director is trying her best to capture the struggles and dark sides of the Christian fundamentalist community but the film doesn't really have a strong impact as it thinks it does due to the storyline being predictable and characters that weren't fully investable.

Throughout, the production and camerawork is pretty good as it helps to bring the settling of isolation and control throughout the main characters environment. The performance from Eliza Scanlen is pretty great and there are some narrative aspects that were pretty interesting. Unfortunately, the positive aspects were overshadowed with a story that has a very predictable setting and characters that aren't interesting to care for.

The characters felt wooden to the point it was difficult to really care much about them. The pacing struggles, some of the other performances were really bad and the dialogue moments felt like they were written from a poor student project at times.

There is a lot of potential that is missed and I really do feel like this movie would have been an pretty good and be considered a hidden gem. But it didn't work as well.

Rating: C.