The Miseducation Of Cameron Post review: Director Desiree Akhavan has been quoted describing her latest, The Miseducation of Cameron Post, as a “queer John Hughes film” – telling the story of a teen girl sent off to “pray away the gay”. Yet that remark doesn’t do the film justice. It channels its inner-Hughes, its inner Call Me By Your Name, even somewhat Jesus Camp, and is greater than the sum of its parts and one of the best of the year.
The Miseducation Of Cameron Post review
The Miseducation Of Cameron Post review
When Cameron (Chloe Grace Moretz) is caught with her girlfriend on prom night, by her prom date, she is sent away to a gay conversion therapy centre called God’s Promise; there, everything she knows about herself is put in doubt as those around her – especially the cold-blooded camp organiser Dr. Lydia Marsh (Jennifer Ehle) – seems to be trying to “diagnose homosexuality” and “cure her” and out her for her actions. The saving grace comes in the bubbly and energetic Jane (Sasha Lane) and Adam (Forrest Goodluck) who Cameron finds respite and comfort within, the only people encouraging the best parts of her as the rest of the camp try to tear her apart for who she is.
The Miseducation Of Cameron Post review
Based on Emily Danforth’s book of the same name, The Miseducation of Cameron Post is a very elegant and charming look at the LGBT community and just what it means to be a teen dealing with all the bottled up angst and emotions teens deal with but in a perhaps a more heightened scenario than most of us are familiar with. It’s a surprisingly warm film, more often hilarious than not and focusing on the joy these characters share; at the same time, it’s constantly permeated with a melancholic edge and isn’t afraid to get hard-hitting when it needs to. Akhavan’s direction here is sublime, the tone is always well-judged and perfectly balanced – something a lot of other coming-of-age stories can struggle with – and the issues and themes the film tackles are handled delicately with aplomb and grace. The messages ‘Cameron Post’ offers are important yet never forced down our throats; there is a nice subtlety to the proceedings that really make it work as well as it does. The priority is story and character and everything else afterward and that’s especially why this film works as well as it does.
Related: Call Me By Your Name review
Moretz is a revelation in the role; the actress is astounding to watch, giving a very understated and career-best performance as our eponymous lead here. The supporting characters are a little thin though and feel very much like they’re all present merely to service Cameron’s arc which is a shame given how fascinating some of these people seem. However, this is 100% Moretz’s film and she absolutely knocks it out of the park. We care for Cameron and, so, we care for her journey. The structure of the story can be a little scatterbrain at times as Post just sort of freefalls through camp feeling quite a scatterbrain herself so it works in conveying that sense of confusion she’s feeling it but it can mean the story does wander every so often. But the overall journey is still something extraordinary. The Miseducation of Cameron Post is truly exquisite; it’s an LGBT coming-of-age film for the ages that is touching and warm yet utterly heart-breaking and true. It’s subliminal and important and undoubtedly one of the best remarkable stories of the year.
The Miseducation Of Cameron Post review by Awai Irfan, September 2018.
The Miseducation Of Cameron Post is released in UK cinemas on Friday 7th September 2018.
