The Starling Girl

Jem, seventeen, is growing up inside a fundamentalist Christian congregation in Kentucky. She is in the church dance group and even a visible bra strap becomes an issue. Something begins between her and Owen, who has returned as the congregation's youth pastor, and Jem takes it for her first decision of her own. In her first film Laurel Parmet neither condemns the congregation wholesale nor presents what happens as a love story, and the difference in age and position stays visible scene by scene. Eliza Scanlen plays the part without withdrawing, constantly calculating. The story proceeds through Jem being blamed, because in a place like this the responsibility is always placed on the woman. Who it is for: viewers who like American independent drama and stories of religious community. Who it is not for: anyone uncomfortable with a relationship involving a minor.