Eliza Scanlen, whom you may recognize from her slithery supporting performance as Amy Adams’ half-sister in 2018’s twisty HBO miniseries “Sharp Objects” or as one of the March sisters in Greta Gerwig’s phenomenal adaptation of “Little Women,” takes the lead in “The Starling Girl,” returning to Sundance for the first time since she headlined “Babyteeth” in 2019.
While this movie’s story may sound familiar — it’s about a religious teenage girl’s sexual awakening in a stuffy community that would rather never address such things — its success is dependent on its execution, and writer/director Laurel Parmet, in her feature directorial debut, hits every target she aims for along the way.17-year-old Jem Starling (Scanlen) is a devout Christian born and raised in rural Kentucky.
Her entire world revolves around her family and her church, despite the fact that it’s the type of place where a grown woman pulls Jem and her
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