The Miseducation of Cameron Post is a peculiar movie, especially when you consider the dark and disturbing subject matter at its core. Director Desiree Akhavan's adaptation of Emily M. Danforth's novel is driven by grim emotional torment, a film populated by teens who have been taught to hate themselves and adults who are delusional, evil, or both. Gay conversion therapy is inhumane and disgusting, and it's not a topic to be taken lightly. But Akhavan has crafted an idiosyncratic take on this material, prominently featuring an unexpected dose of bone-dry, borderline absurd humor. I was surprised by how frequently I laughed in Miseducation, which finds a good deal of awkward brilliance in the stilted interactions between religious zealots and lost teens.
Yet Akhavan's film feels incomplete, lacking the power to bring together its powerful content and tonal quirks in a rewarding manner. It's so rare for a film to hit so many positive notes and still fall so short, but Miseducation remains enigmatic in its peculiarities until the bitter end. This is a truncated version of a much longer, more thorough film, one that manages to fully examine its characters in a nuanced capacity. Cameron Post proves to be a raw and funny drama of terrors, but there's a faint air of "That's it?" to the film, a sense that Akhavan is so caught up in piercing camerawork and indie flourishes that the story loses itself along the way.
The film follows Cameron (Chloe Grace Moretz), a teenager slowly coming to grips with her sexuality. She attends a deeply religious school, which would seemingly forbid this kind of behavior. The church's sinful view of homosexuality does not deter Cameron, who strikes up a relationship with a beautiful girl (Quinn Shephard) at her school. When our young protagonist is caught hooking up with her new girlfriend in the back of a car on prom night, her journey towards acceptance takes a turn for the worse. Her aunt (Cameron's parents died long ago) sends her to a Christian camp known as God's Promise, which is where she'll stay until she gets "better."
At the camp, Cameron meets an eclectic mixture of earnest believers, cynical attendees, and cruel leaders. She becomes close with Adam (Forrest Goodluck) and Jane (American Honey's Sasha Lane), both of whom have managed to totally ignore the "lessons" of the camp, opting to smoke weed on long hikes instead. The leader of the endeavor is Dr. Lydia Marsh (Jennifer Ehle), a cold, Nurse Ratched type who believes that "same-sex attraction" can be cured if you examine all facets of your life. Marsh's brother, Reverend Rick (John Gallagher Jr.) once "suffered" from this attraction, but now serves as cheery example of what happens when you heed the lessons of God's Promise. During her time, Cameron bears witness to the cruelty of Marsh's practices, eventually resolving herself to resist at all costs.
Akhavan's style of filmmaking is often extraordinarily intimate, capturing private moments with a keen eye for striking details. Whether it's a passionate scene between Cameron and her girlfriend or the precise moment when a young man (Owen Campbell) loses his mind at the camp, Akhavan's camera is unflinching. She prefers quiet sequences over contrived dramatic moments (the aforementioned scene with the young man is a harrowing exception), often content to let her actors do the heavy lifting. Even though this is a story set in the 1990s, the film avoids calling attention to its time period or setting. There are no egregious needle drops or cheesy pop culture references. Everything in Miseducation feels solemn and understated.
Perhaps a bit too understated. Akhavan resists convention to such an extent that the film begins to feel dramatically ineffective, more a collection of scenes than a sustained narrative. One of the further idiosyncrasies of this film is the pointlessness of Akhavan's commitment to physical closeness, as her exquisite camera movements serve little purpose for the characters. We don't find any greater perspective on how Cameron perceives these events through the film's approach, so the stylistic touches end up seeming like a substitute for emotional nuance.
Cameron, Adam, and Jane are all fairly one-dimensional characters, but there's an argument to be made for why that's the case. If the film poses that emotional repression has scarred these kids and destroyed their personalities, then the choices by Akhavan and the actors would make sense. But Miseducation never really goes there; in fact, I would argue that the film makes the opposite case. Our lead trio is the last bastion of individuality in a vicious, unfathomable world, yet we never really get to know them. We know a little about their backstory. They can be sarcastic from time to time. They don't really want to be at this camp. But who are they?
Individual scenes pop with startling irony or dramatic brutality, sometimes even with a touch of both. But the film's core proves to be lacking, which is all the more apparent when the conclusion arrives. Akhavan has built a portfolio of moving scenes, but those moments disintegrate when forced to connect with one another. By the time Cameron and her friends (spoiler?) make the choice to flee, the impact of that monumental decision is virtually non-existent. When the credits roll, it's hard not to shake the feeling that something in Miseducation is sorely missing.
THE FINAL GRADE: C+ (5.7/10)
Image courtesy of FilmRise
Poster: FilmRise/IMDb
Yet Akhavan's film feels incomplete, lacking the power to bring together its powerful content and tonal quirks in a rewarding manner. It's so rare for a film to hit so many positive notes and still fall so short, but Miseducation remains enigmatic in its peculiarities until the bitter end. This is a truncated version of a much longer, more thorough film, one that manages to fully examine its characters in a nuanced capacity. Cameron Post proves to be a raw and funny drama of terrors, but there's a faint air of "That's it?" to the film, a sense that Akhavan is so caught up in piercing camerawork and indie flourishes that the story loses itself along the way.
The film follows Cameron (Chloe Grace Moretz), a teenager slowly coming to grips with her sexuality. She attends a deeply religious school, which would seemingly forbid this kind of behavior. The church's sinful view of homosexuality does not deter Cameron, who strikes up a relationship with a beautiful girl (Quinn Shephard) at her school. When our young protagonist is caught hooking up with her new girlfriend in the back of a car on prom night, her journey towards acceptance takes a turn for the worse. Her aunt (Cameron's parents died long ago) sends her to a Christian camp known as God's Promise, which is where she'll stay until she gets "better."
At the camp, Cameron meets an eclectic mixture of earnest believers, cynical attendees, and cruel leaders. She becomes close with Adam (Forrest Goodluck) and Jane (American Honey's Sasha Lane), both of whom have managed to totally ignore the "lessons" of the camp, opting to smoke weed on long hikes instead. The leader of the endeavor is Dr. Lydia Marsh (Jennifer Ehle), a cold, Nurse Ratched type who believes that "same-sex attraction" can be cured if you examine all facets of your life. Marsh's brother, Reverend Rick (John Gallagher Jr.) once "suffered" from this attraction, but now serves as cheery example of what happens when you heed the lessons of God's Promise. During her time, Cameron bears witness to the cruelty of Marsh's practices, eventually resolving herself to resist at all costs.
Akhavan's style of filmmaking is often extraordinarily intimate, capturing private moments with a keen eye for striking details. Whether it's a passionate scene between Cameron and her girlfriend or the precise moment when a young man (Owen Campbell) loses his mind at the camp, Akhavan's camera is unflinching. She prefers quiet sequences over contrived dramatic moments (the aforementioned scene with the young man is a harrowing exception), often content to let her actors do the heavy lifting. Even though this is a story set in the 1990s, the film avoids calling attention to its time period or setting. There are no egregious needle drops or cheesy pop culture references. Everything in Miseducation feels solemn and understated.
Perhaps a bit too understated. Akhavan resists convention to such an extent that the film begins to feel dramatically ineffective, more a collection of scenes than a sustained narrative. One of the further idiosyncrasies of this film is the pointlessness of Akhavan's commitment to physical closeness, as her exquisite camera movements serve little purpose for the characters. We don't find any greater perspective on how Cameron perceives these events through the film's approach, so the stylistic touches end up seeming like a substitute for emotional nuance.
Cameron, Adam, and Jane are all fairly one-dimensional characters, but there's an argument to be made for why that's the case. If the film poses that emotional repression has scarred these kids and destroyed their personalities, then the choices by Akhavan and the actors would make sense. But Miseducation never really goes there; in fact, I would argue that the film makes the opposite case. Our lead trio is the last bastion of individuality in a vicious, unfathomable world, yet we never really get to know them. We know a little about their backstory. They can be sarcastic from time to time. They don't really want to be at this camp. But who are they?
Individual scenes pop with startling irony or dramatic brutality, sometimes even with a touch of both. But the film's core proves to be lacking, which is all the more apparent when the conclusion arrives. Akhavan has built a portfolio of moving scenes, but those moments disintegrate when forced to connect with one another. By the time Cameron and her friends (spoiler?) make the choice to flee, the impact of that monumental decision is virtually non-existent. When the credits roll, it's hard not to shake the feeling that something in Miseducation is sorely missing.
THE FINAL GRADE: C+ (5.7/10)
Image courtesy of FilmRise
Poster: FilmRise/IMDb
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