White Bird in a Blizzard

Indie survivor Gregg Araki (‘The Doom Generation’, ‘Mysterious Skin’) has never made a boring movie, even if his brand of too-fast-too-soon sexual awakening has become something of a crutch. Viewers who came of age circa 1988 will thrill to the sheen of his latest, a pitch-perfect evocation of Gen X unease (featuring activities like making out to Depeche Mode songs).

Younger audiences will see ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ actress Shailene Woodley once again excelling in an emotionally tricky role: Kat, a 17-year-old blooming into her wild years while dealing with an increasingly unhinged mother (played by Eva Green, crazy-eyed). There are problems here, though – the main one being that Araki’s nostalgic lushness is an awkward match for Laura Kasischke’s 1999 missing-person novel.