Diary Of A Teenage Girl, The

The Diary Of A Teenage Girl follows Minnie Goetze (Powley) in 1976 San Francisco, who is growing up at the crossroads of the fading hippie movement and the dawn of punk rock. Like most teenage girls, Minnie is longing for love, acceptance, and a sense of purpose in the world. Minnie begins a complex love affair with her mother's (Wiig) boyfriend, “the handsomest man in the world,” Monroe Rutherford (Skarsgard). What follows is a sharp, funny, and provocative account of one girl's sexual and artistic awakening, without judgment. Based on Phoebe Gloeckner's novel of the same name. (Gary Reber)

Special features include commentary with cast and director, three deleted scenes, the featurette Marielle's Journey: Bring The Diary To Life (HD 23:07), LA Film Festival Q&A with Actors Bel Powley and Alexander Skarsgard, and Director Marielle Heller (HD 25:19), the theatrical trailer, upfront previews, and an UltraViolet digital copy.

The 2.40:1 1080p AVC picture was digitally photographed with the Red One camera system. The imagery is perfectly natural throughout. The color palette is rich and at times vibrant. The color imagery is interspersed with black-and-white, and color, cartoonish sketches. Flesh hues are notably natural. Contrast is well balanced with deep blacks and revealing shadow delineation. Darker interior scenes are nicely resolved, Resolution is nicely detailed, with fine textures revealed in facial features, hair, clothing, and object textures. This is a very pleasing picture, with striking interiors and natural imagery throughout. (Gary Reber)

The DTS-HD Master Audio™ 5.1-channel soundtrack is conventional, with a major focus on dialogue, which at all times is intelligible and integrated spatially. Music of various genres penetrates scenes and energizes the dynamics. The music spans the frontal soundstage and is the element that extends to the surrounds. Atmospherics are essentially limited to the front channels, Deep bass really is not a factor, but the low frequencies during the music sequences sound perfectly natural. This is an effective soundtrack with great music, excellent fidelity, and natural dialogue production. (Gary Reber)