Every year, Sundance features multiple breakouts, and 2015 was no different. One of the biggest breakthrough actors of the festival was Bel Powley, the mostly unknown star of the coming of age dramedy “The Diary Of A Teenage Girl” who swept audiences off of their feet with her naturalistic, unblinking performance as a teenager struggling with her sexuality and identity during the turbulent Haight-Ashbury scene in 1970s San Francisco.
READ MORE: The Biggest Breakout Stars, Filmmakers & Newcomers Of The 2015 Sundance Film Festival
Based on Phoebe Gloeckner’s graphic novel of the same name, “The Diary Of A Teenage Girl” may look a little twee on the surface —it does indeed include moments of enchanting animation and fairy tale magic— but it’s much darker than it may seem. The movie pulls no punches, particularly in light of its seedy-sounding main narrative: A teenager begins an illicit sexual relationship with her mother’s lover, which not only...
