52 Films by Women Vol 3. 39. THE MISEDUCATION OF CAMERON POST (Director: Desiree Akhavan)
With its 93% approval rating on ‘Rotten Tomatoes’, The Miseducation of Cameron Post proves that it isn’t just geeky boys who are submitting reviews on that website. The story of a teenage girl’s experiences in a gay conversion retreat called God’s Promise (comment: whatever it was, He didn’t keep it), it is the second feature by Iranian-American writer-director Desiree Akhavan, after her 2014 well-regarded debut, Appropriate Behaviour . Based on Emily M. Danforth’s 2012 novel, co-adapted with Akhavan’s writing and producing partner, Cecilia Frugiuele, it is anchored by an understated central performance by Chloë Grace Moretz, whose Cameron is an unusual mixture of observer and protagonist. The year is 1993. Cameron is caught kissing her best friend, Coley Taylor (Quinn Shephard) in the backseat of a car by her male prom date. The incident is fixed in her mind as shameful. Cameron is raised as Christian. When we first see her, her gaze is wandering during a sermon by Pastor Cra...