The Edge Of Seventeen which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 16th, 2016 is a renowned take on the life of a high school teenager. This coming of age comedy-drama film stars Woody Harrelson, Hailee Steinfeld, Kyra Sedwick, and Haley Lu Richardson. The film was the directorial debut of Kelly Freemon Craig, with Craig also being the writer for the project.

This film follows 17 year old Nadine Franklin (Hailee Steinfeld) and her emotional journey through her junior year of high school after her fathers passing. Self-doubt, jealousy, and suicidal thoughts all arise as Nadine deals with family issues, the betrayal of her brother and best friend, and her romantic pursuits. What Nadine endures in this film are experiences extremely relatable to a large variety of teenagers in the 21st century. While Nadine goes through an emotionally reckless journey, we also see her find herself through these experiences and truly become happier with who she has become, though it is not an easy journey to get there.

Hailee Steinfeld in the role of Nadine Franklin was one that was critically acclaimed, and rightfully so. Steinfeld's take on this character showed a true and honest portrayal of situations that teenagers have to go through. She brought herself to the role and her range was clearly expanded during this project. The realness Steinfeld brought to the table was immensely appreciated as a teen viewer- a lot of movies made nowadays portraying the life of a teenager could not be further from the truth. Steinfeld's performance separated this movie from those of unrealistic films. Her raw performance scored her two nominations at the 2016 Critics Choice Awards- Best Young Performer and Best Actress In A Comedy.

Every character in this film was extremely well developed. I found the performers - no matter if they were portraying a likable character or not - strongly brought two facets to their role. Personally, this helped me a great amount to understand more of the characters' perspectives in the film.

I would recommend this film to every teenager growing up in the present day. The film is an honest, raw portrayal of a teenager's life, and does not sugar coat. I feel that even young adults and older adults could strongly connect to this film, as there are so many different aspects. Happy Viewing!