Leah Meyerhoff‘s feature length directorial debut I Believe in Unicorns is an intoxicating and very beautiful film with a premise every adult can relate to. It involves a young girl beginning high school/puberty, her relationship with her older chaotic boyfriend, and their whirlwind adventures together as they embark on a magical journey to find themselves.

Davina (Natalia Dyer), the female protagonist, is completely enthralled by Sterling (Peter Vack), and finds his age and recklessness intoxicating. The love that grows resembles a drug-induced high that heightens the already over-dramatic emotions and actions of these two young lovers.

Davina runs away to go on a road trip with Sterling, disregarding her sick disabled mother that she cares for everyday at home, with no explanation. I found myself thinking back to this many times, how immature and selfish she is at this point in her life.

To her disgrace she finds out Sterling’s true character is as volatile as the life he leads, and she discovers she shouldn’t play with “unicorns.”

Many hard life lessons are discovered by Davina. To her disgrace, she finds out Sterling’s true character is as volatile as the life he leads, and she discovers she shouldn’t play with “unicorns.”

The moral of this story highlights the painful realities that young teenage girls face, and the outcomes which can occur. This film did an excellent job of raising my awareness to sexual violence in teenage relationships. The main facet that I enjoyed most about this film was the cinematography and the music. It was similar to watching a magical vintage surf movie from the seventies through the eyes of a modern adolescent girl.

At times, I did find watching parts of this film very hard. From my perspective, maybe because I am just coming out of my teenage years, the actress Natalia Dyer was just too young. The film contained many graphic sex scenes which I found myself cringing and wanting them to be over just when they started. Not to say that Dyer did not perform above par in this film, but seeing her act and physically engage with such an older man was just disturbing for me.

I found Peter Vack to be a bit over-dramatic at points. Although, I did think that he did a great job in many parts, specifically the scenes where he is being confronted with the fact that he is abusive. In all, I Believe in Unicorns is a fantastic film and teenage girls everywhere would benefit immensely from watching it; I think it’s safe to say that this is the main audience that the director was shooting for. Although it can be a bit abrasive, this film has a touching story to tell and a good message to follow.

I Believe in Unicorns opens this Friday, June 19, at Arena Cinema Hollywood.