The Edge of Seventeen

2016's "The Edge of Seventeen", by Kelly Fremon Craig.

Starring Hailee Steinfeld, Woody Harrelson, and Blake Jenner. 

We are introduced to the Steinfeld teenager, who abruptly declares she will kill herself to her confidante teacher (an amazingly understated and hysterical Harrelson). We flashback to discover why Steinfeld was always picked on by others, but how she found comfort in a friend she could have sleepovers with. Her father dies from an unnamed malady, and Steinfeld has to deal with being fatherless. Moving forwards to present day, we see how Steinfeld feels the need to compete with her popular brother (a fantastic Jenner, who had already knocked me out in this year’s “Everybody Wants Some!!!”) and self absorbed mother for attention, and finally how her only friend is dating her brother. So good already in 2010’s "True Grit", here Steinfeld is revelatory, in a performance that it is practically impossible to imagine somebody else portraying. We get to know her character, both brilliantly intriguing and infuriating- often in the same sentence. Steinfeld swims through her teenager ennui, and learns life's lessons that are standard for the precipice of adulthood: drinking too much, being cynical and righteous, struggling with how people grow apart, biting the hand that feeds you, ignoring positives in your life, and exploring sexuality.

The world of coming of age movies are plentiful and well tread, however, "EoS" is a welcome addition to the teenage canon, feeling refreshing and lively. It gives us a flesh and blood character who grants us glimpses of ourselves during our most vulnerable and awkward moments, while not pandering to the generation it seeks to emulate, nor the adults who remember that painful stage of life oh too well. 

I also loved how the movie doesn't have any film score until almost 90 minutes in, with the music cues previous to that diegetic and natural.
With several moments of laugh out loud hilarity, "EoS" is a great coming of age comedy that John Hughes would approve of.

4/5

Trailer : Click Here.