An intoxicating, delicate coming-of-age tale in ‘The Starling Girl’

By LINDSEY BAHR
AP Film Writer

Laurel Parmet’s directorial debut “The Starling Girl” puts the viewer in the modest shoes of a 17-year-old girl named Jem. She’s grown up in a Christian fundamentalist community in Kentucky and has internalized its teachings, feeling deep shame for drawing attention to herself and her body, even accidentally. But her world starts to change when Owen, a handsome 28-year-old youth leader played by Lewis Pullman, returns from a mission in Puerto Rico. Jem, played by Australian actor Eliza Scanlen, develops an intense infatuation that soon evolves into something more. “The Starling Girl,” currently playing in New York and Los Angeles and expanding this weekend, is done with a delicate touch.