The Miseducation of Cameron Post (2018)

Very well executed

Thanks for the memories!

Excellent but underrated film

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

This small film is a triumph of down-to-earth storytelling on the experience of young people going through gay conversion therapy through religious browbeating. It's the story of a teenage girl, Cameron Post, played with visceral substance by Chloe Grace Moretz, who experiences life in exactly this type of setting. Her story begins when she is discovered engaging in sexual intimacy with a female classmate during prom and is sent by her outraged aunt to a ghastly gay conversion camp in a rural area. She soon meets two other teenage members (Sasha Lane and Forrest Goodluck, both excellent) who secretly refuse to embrace the camp's philosophy.Although this could have been something more dramatic and perhaps could have gone a bit deeper, it's not a misfire by virtue of being slight in its length or in its treatment of the difficult material. It is alternately heartbreaking and outrageous but also at times bemusing as the camp veers between apparent sadism and pitiful ineptitude in trying to pound its young members into submission. Jennifer Ehle is powerful as the camp's leader and psychologist in an icy, Nurse Ratched-like performance who has her brother, a "cured" gay man as the camp's spiritual leader. The film also does not shy away from showing the emotional toll on even the camp's most docile members.Even though the film's resolution seems too casual and almost too simple, I still found it quite satisfying, together with a roaring soundtrack which toward the end conveys a ray of hope. Recommended for its thoughtful approach and fine performances.

Actress, Writer, Director Desiree Akhavan ("Appropriate Behavior" 2014) is back in the seat again, this time adding Executive Producer to her list of accomplishments. Presenting a solid summer youth angst film about the 1990's "gay conversion therapy" phase, we are introduced to Cameron (Chloe Grace Moritz "Carrie" 2013) who is caught having relations with her BFF Coley (Quinn Shephard ""Blame" 2017), and sent to camp "Gods Promise" to change her lifestyle. Heading the "conversion therapy" is conflicted leader Reverend Rick (the terrific John Gallagher Jr. "The Newsroom" 2012) and the tightly wound Dr. Lydia Marsh (the amazing Jennifer Ehle ""Little Men" 2016). If these two robots aren't enough to scare you straight, nothing is. However, when you place a bunch of independent blooming young minded kids (Sasha Lane "American Honey" 2016, Emily Skeggs "When We Rise" TV, Forrest Goodluck "The Revenant" 2015, to name but a few of the terrific camp captives) in a place that's all about "don't do this, and don't do that", things don't always go as planned. Akhavan is terrific at slowing reveling each young adults fears and frustrations, while quietly enabling them to work through their issues privately and in bursts of revelation. Gallagher Jr. and Ehle are superb in their self-centered and standoffish roles as leaders. There's something erie behind their facades that keeps the audience wondering if and when their personal dam will burst. Fellow camp captive Mark (Owen Campbell "The Americans" TV) gets on opportunity to stretch his acting chops in a break out scene that is one of the films most powerful displays of personal growth forcibly held back by those charged with helping the young. I haven't really had Chloe Grace Moritz on my radar, but with her strong and appealing performance here, she is someone to watch. In fact, all the youth in this film are sure to see an up tick in their acting careers due to thier honest and heart-filled roles here. I just wish the film had a more resolute ending.

Cameron starts humming "What's Going On" and within minutes is standing on the table singing it loud and proud. There's an inherent energy in that scene that often feels missing from the rest of the picture. Also, the people in this story are flesh-and-blood examples of a tragic emotional Stockholm Syndrome that should not be. I just wish the story did more with them.

Sweet teenage girl gets caught kissing her girlfriend and is sent to a Christian gay conversion camp. The film But I'm a Cheerleader had a comic perspective on this situation but this film Miseducation takes it seriously. Seemed like a realistically awful situation. Fortunately the girl makes some friends at the camp but they all suffer under the pressure to change their orientation. The film shows that this is emotional abuse. The acting of all the teens is excellent.