‘The Starling Girl’ Movie Review: Talent & Passion Ooze From The Screen

On paper, there isn’t really anything I find that appealing about writer-director Laurel Parmet‘s feature film debut: a 17-year-old girl growing up in a deeply conservative Christian community in Kentucky trying to find herself while also engaging in a secret romantic affair with her much older, married youth pastor. As someone who is not religious and has very little experience with religion, this is not a film that I would exactly rush out to see due to its subject matter. Yet in spite of these personal obstacles, while The Starling Girl is by no means a perfect movie, this is a film that I can’t help but admire due to how much talent and passion oozes from the screen.

>WATCH LAUREL PARMET’s uINTERVIEW NOW!

Without a doubt, the best aspect of The Starling Girl is the acting, particularly from Australian-born actress Eliza Scanlen, who plays the main protagonist of the film, Jem. Scanlen gives an incredibly heartbreaking-yet-convincing performance as a young Christian girl trying to better understand herself and what she wants out of life. She is deeply involved in her church, particularly through participating in its dance troupe, and while she always remains committed to her religious beliefs, she has her own self-interests that she wants to explore. Whether it’s through her small ambition of becoming a dancer to her growing fascination with sex, Jem has some idea of who she wants to be, but that idea terrifies her because of how her highly religious community will react.

>WATCH ELIZA SCANLEN’s uINTERVIEW NOW!

It’s ultimately what makes her and Owen’s (Lewis Pullman) affair believable. Not only do they have a sort of connection that Jem feels lacking with the rest of her community, especially with Owen’s brother Ben who attempts to “court” Jem, but in a way she views Owen as an outlet for her to freely explore these passions without shame or judgment. Whether she realizes it or not, Jem is rebelling against her community. She’s tired of submitting herself and always prioritizing what’s good for the church. She wants something more out of life, and in the same way that Owen had a change in perspective about faith and life from his mission in Puerto Rico, she wants to have a similar experience.

There is so much to the character of Jem, and Scanlen manages to pull all of this off with such grace and talent. Pullman does an excellent job playing Jem’s youth pastor and lover, Owen.

The film would not have been as compelling without the strong cast. In particular, Scanlen and Pullman give Oscar-worthy performances.

However, as much as I love the acting, I do not feel as strongly about the other technical aspects of The Starling Girl. While I do not think this is a poorly made film by any means, as the movie was decently well-shot and directed with some great use of music, overall I don’t think the rest of the film on a technical level was on the same quality standard as the acting.

The movie got a bit repetitive towards the second act, and I believe could have been trimmed down while also communicating the same points. Overall though, while not nearly as well-made as some of my favorite religious films like Martin Scorsese‘s Silence, this is still a solid feature film debut from Parmet. I can’t wait to check out what else she does next.