High-schooler
Nadine (Hailee Steinfeld) is a tragic wallflower. Cynical, abrasive
and sarcastic, her family life is mired in her being stuck in her
worshipped older brother Darian's (Blake Jenner) shadow, her uptight
mum (Kyra Sedgwick) and the death of her dad, whose favourite she was
like Darian is their mother's. Her best and only friend since age 7
is Krista (Haley Lu Richardson), but that soon changes when Krista
elopes with none other than Darian. Now Nadine feels more isolated
and world-weary than ever, until she forms an unexpected bond with
kindly film geek classmate Erwin (Hayden Szeto). This makes Nadine
realize there may just be a glimmer of hope for the future after all.
Now,
I actually only saw The
Edge of Seventeen on
Thursday night, but like Nadine getting a sense of hope for her life,
it gave me a real sense of hope for teen movies. It could just be the
best one of this decade. Writer-director Kelly Fremon Craig, in her directorial debut, avoids so many of the cliches of recent teen
flicks (a totally alternative soundtrack, excessive animated
interludes et cetera) and handles the mix of comedy and pathos so
intuitively and confidently, in the narrative AND visuals, that it
will leave a lump in your throat even as you laugh uproariously, and
her script manages to be genuinely witty and profound without the
dialogue of the teenage characters feeling incongruous.
None
of the cast miss a beat, either. Kyra Sedgwick renders Nadine's bitch
of a mum with delightful relish, Blake Jenner (who shot to fame as
Ryder Lynn on Glee)
shows ever-more range as Darian's arc unfolds, and as Nadine's lazy
but supportive teacher, Woody Harrelson is his usually entertaining,
laconic self. But Hailee Steinfeld truly is the heart and soul of
this one. If anybody considered her Oscar-nominated turn in True
Grit (2010) a fluke, I'm
sure this performance will silence them well and truly. She should've
at least been nominated again for it; going back and forth with such
wise instinct between contemptuous humour and real sadness and
sorrow, Steinfeld is a fucking knockout.
Fresh,
resonant, compassionate and very, VERY funny, The
Edge of Seventeen proves
that while growing up is tumultuous for us all, portraying
realistically and originally isn't, after all. John Hughes would've
been beaming.
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