The Diary of Preston Plummer

This is a beautifully shot film in a lovely setting -- the untrammeled Amelia Island off the coast of Florida -- where every scene glimmers in the moonlight's reflection on the water. But even the gorgeous backdrop can't lighten the mood of what unfolds in this heavy meditation on familial estrangement and dysfunction. It's mostly well-acted, and the pace is as languid as a summer spent on the beach, where every issue and feeling gets room to breathe.

For mature teens who are interested in stories about identity, growing up, and the tangled webs we weave, this is a thoughtful film that takes those subjects on without tidy answers. But for parents, there are a lot of heavy themes that come up here: dark troubles, bitter accusations, betrayal, and, in particular, a graphic suicide and a very thorny discussion of false rape accusations. Also troubling is the myth it perpetuates about virginity -- that there is some definitive way to tell whether a woman is a virgin or not based on the presence of blood on the sheets after intercourse. In fairness, it does so in the service of the plot rather than with any kind of agenda, but any parent interested in accurate discussions of such issues will want to clear this up.