by Marielle Heller
Growing up in 70s San Francisco, it’s no surprise that teenager Minnie Goetze’s hippie single mom, Charlotte, is loose with the discipline when it comes to alcohol and drugs. Minnie has to experience life for herself. She looks to her mother’s lover Monroe for her first sexual experience, and an affair ensues, that turns everything on its head. Minnie already has enough on her plate dealing with the emotional turmoil of puberty. The budding comic artist chronicles her trials through drawings and an audio diary. Marielle Heller’s debut feature is based on the novel of the same name by Phoebe Gloeckner, the original creator of Minnie Goetze’s comic character. As amusing as it is bold, THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL is an elegantly staged drama about one young woman’s search for her identity during the hazy 70s.