Stargirl

A film set in a high school in Arizona. Leo is in eleventh grade. He tries not to be noticed and has managed it for years. There is a reason. When his father died a necktie was left to him, and he has worn the same thing ever since. Someone new arrives at the school. Stargirl sings in the canteen with a ukulele, knows everyone's birthday, and carries a pet rat. Nobody knows what to do. First she is mocked, then treated as odd. Then the football team starts winning. Stargirl cheers in the stands and the school takes her in. From there the film is a story of acceptance and rejection. A match, a competition, a ceremony and an exclusion. At one match she helps an injured player from the opposing team. The school takes it as betrayal and the wind turns at once. Leo asks something of her. He asks her to be a little more normal. What the narrative is interested in is not love but the pressure to conform: its question is how much a person has to change in order to be liked. Leo is not likeable and the film does not hide it. He is the one who makes her pay. The music is inside the narrative. The songs are performed within scenes and pieces from the 1960s are reworked. The source is Jerry Spinelli's novel for young readers; the book has been taught in schools for years. The production was made for a streaming platform. Grace VanderWaal, Graham Verchere, Karan Brar and Giancarlo Esposito are in the cast. Julia Hart directed and co-wrote. Who it is for: anyone who likes adaptations of young adult novels and drama with music. Who it is not for: anyone looking for depth; Stargirl's own inner life is never opened and the narrative uses her as a lesson.