This is one of those movies that I heard great things about, and... completely forgot to check it out.
This falls into the same category as The Gift: The Edge of Seventeen is terrific.
Here is a movie about growing up that actually feels like a movie about growing up. A big part of growing up is failure, and this movie is wise enough to deal with it.
Nadine is not a stereotype of teenage-hood.
Nadine is dealing with a lot: her father's death, her relationship with her mother; her disdain for her brother's position with her mother.
She is not presented as especially worldly or witty. She can be ignorant of other people's lives, and ends up destroying a few relationships by either miscommunication or attacking someone for a perceived slight. I have watched the film a couple of times for this review, and it became clearer on subsequent viewings how self-absorbed Nadine is.
And this is not a bad thing. The Edge of Seventeen is wise enough to present a character with believable flaws and motivations. Nadine is not able to recognise her own limitations, and it takes a long time for her to engage in genuine self-reflection.
What is great about the script is that all of the people around her are essentially in the same position. They do not know how how to talk to Nadine, and it takes an escalation of conflict for everyone to finally reckon with one another.
A big reason for the film's success is Hailee Steinfeld. Nadine is weird, awkward and think she is smarter than she is - and Steinfeld does not shy away from highlighting these qualities. She gives Nadine a quick- fire confidence that emphasises the character tor's immaturity without making her come off as a caricature.
On my initial viewing, there are a few moments where Nadine's dialogue felt too written, but as the movie progressed those moments felt more like a teen trying to present herself as smarter and more worldly. Nadine is wearing a front to hide her deepest feelings.
Steinfeld leans into Nadine's over-confidence, making her feel more out of sync with the people around her. Nadine wants to be an outsider, and Steinfeld's shameless performance highlights just how awkward she is.
I feel like I am coming off a bit harsh, but I want to emphasise how refreshing it is to watch a movie where genuinely flawed people are treated with empathy and understanding. Nadine makes mistakes, but the movie never punishes her or makes fun of her.
The movie deserves kudos for fleshing out all of its characters. Though she treats them as antagonists, Nadine's mother Mona (Kyra Sedgwick) and jock brother Darian (Blake Jenner) have as much control over their lives as Nadine does: both are still struggling with the loss of their husband/father, and all three people are beset by an inability to see each other's point of view. Nadine's best friend Krista (Haley Lu Richardson) is hurt by the breakdown of her friendship, and does not turn into an antagonistic force.
Teacher Mr Bruner (Woody Harrelson), Nadine's unwilling mentor, is believably harried as Nadine sucks up every moment he has free. He is no saintly mentor, but a veteran educator who is somewhat past it, but is still able to find a way to look out for his student.
Every character has their own motivations, their own fears and weaknesses. They never feel contrived to boost Nadine's place as the protagonist, or to force the plot in a specific direction. They all live and breath within the diegesis - the irony of the movie is that Nadine, the film's protagonist, thinks the entire world revolves around her and her problems, when the case is very much the opposite.
Even the portrayal of Nadine's stop-start friendship with Erwin (Hayden Chun Hay Szeto), a boy who has a crush on her, is treated with nuance and a lack of schmaltz or cliches. It is obvious from the beginning that this relationship will end in romance, but it never feels contrived. There seems to be a level of self-awareness to Nadine's interactions with Erwin, especially in the way she contextualises him: the assumptions she makes about his background and the way she describes him, in terms which reduce him to the stereotype of a desexualised, disempowered old man. It is a brutal categorisation, and the script does not let Nadine off the hook for it. Erwin maybe awkward, but he calls her out repeatedly for being an ass. It is great character-building, and Szeto and Steinfeld have great chemistry.
Just thinking about this movie makes me want to watch it again.
A well-observed and keenly intelligent portrait of a young woman learning how to grow up, The Edge of Seventeen succeeds at something so many movies fail to: it genuinely loves and understands its characters.
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