Sitting in class, she is greeted to her new home by Dr. Lydia Marsh (Jennifer Ehle), a psychiatrist who has made it her life’s mission to “correct” young teenagers into realizing why they should hate themselves and their nature, just as her younger brother and fellow counselor Rev. Rick (John Gallagher Jr.) now does. So in that classroom, Cameron is singled out by Lydia as perfectly redeemable if she’d just let Jesus heal her. “Welcome, Cameron.” When the young woman tries to correct her new mentor/warden that she prefers “Cam,” she receives her first of many reprimands. You see, “Cam” just further contributes to her “gender confusion” by accentuating the maleness of her already, excessively masculine name. This familiar irony is at the heart of director Desiree Akhavan’s provocative and genuinely poignant film, which looks to unlock the bitter, bitter truth about gay conversion therapy and these evangelical brainwashing centers. And it does so without pretense or apology. Indeed, the most striking and satisfying element of this Grand Jury Prize winner out of Sundance is simply how direct it is in finding not only humor and sweet coming-of-age contours in this familiar setting of LGBTQ cinema, but also an unrepentant ability to assess its horror and damage without arch posture or deflective handholding. Set in 1993 during the fall semester of a girl’s most formative year, The Miseducation of Cameron Post recounts in a nonlinear fashion the life experiences that brought Moretz’s Cam into the clutches of well-meaning fanatics, and how unwell that attention can ultimately become. This is accomplished by contrasting her day-to-day life of walking around her vaguely idyllic Northwestern prison with her nighttime memories of her first love (Quinn Shepherd), as well as her fantasies about classmates, teachers, and the blur of fantasy and reality. She is first drawn to the desire of those who want to become “cured” of their Same Sex Attraction (diagnosed by Lydia as the SSA condition, something as unfortunate as any other personality disorder). In this vein, there’s her roommate Erin (Emily Skeggs), who tries to convince Cam that they should be interested in some of the male students who are also trying to understand their supposed disorder, as well as Helen (Melanie Ehrlich), who is convinced she only was drawn to her former choir friend’s “perfect pitch.” The Must See Movies of 2018 The Miseducation of Cameron Post’s success stems from how minimalist and yet sophisticated it can be in offering a dramatic rendering of of this special kind of hell. Adapted from an Emily M. Danforth novel of the same name, it takes a narrower and more sharply pointed, 90-minute route than the lengthy source. As opposed to older films on similar subject matters from previous decades, whether it be gay conversion satires like But I’m a Cheerleader (1999) or other melodramatic pieces about teenage evangelical crucibles, such as Saved! (2004), there is no desire to cajole or sweetly mock the naïve biases of godly oppressors. While this film depicts Gallagher’s Rev. Rick as a pleasant fool who’s doomed himself to unhappiness—Ehle by contrast plays a most self-content incarnation of the Devil—the movie is not interested in empathizing with the mistaken or in persuading a sheltered, skeptical audience. As the young heroine, Chloë Grace Moretz gives the best performance so far in her career, finally finding an adult role that plays to her strengths of pensive intensity and often wordless introspection while inhaling her surroundings. It’s a fine central anchor to Akhavan’s smooth journey into what could’ve easily been troubled waters. They’re also complemented by impressive supporting work all around, with a special gravitas achieved by Ehle as a force of wicked nature who is mistakenly convinced in her virtue. Miseducation is an effectively disarming and often bittersweet picture that should resonate with many an isolated youth. But it also brings about what should be a clear-eyed and universal revulsion for its subject matter of adolescent years, and sometimes whole lives, being sanctimoniously interrupted. The Miseducation of Cameron Post premiered this week at the Tribeca Film Festival and opens in August.
