The Girl from Plainville

I have always been a bigger fan of documentaries rather than reenactments. For those of you who agree with that statement, just watch the HBO documentary "I Love You, Now Die." I started this and then realized how pointless it is to watch people re-enacting a story and there being "events that are dramatized" (as per the statement in the opening first episode) when you can just watch the real deal. Similar to The Dropout, where you can just watch The Inventor documentary about Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes.

The whole point of this review is: if you're more into that way of filmmaking, I want to make sure you know that exists as well. This isn't the only way to get this story.

The premise and storyline is good, but the horrible editing makes it seem like there is no continuity between the scenes. I don't know if it's the director's vision or scene editors were lazy or what.. transition between scenes seem very abrupt.

The show seems to jump from the past to present with no real indication. It can be jarring and annoying. This had potential to being an incredibly addictive series but it's just too dragged out and occasionally confusing. Elle Fanning is sensational though. Let's be honest - she is the reason I'll finish this series.

Elle Fanning does an amazing job on this - she portrays the desperate teen grasping for every bit of attention she can get superbly. As for the series, only three episodes in, so I can't comment on the plot in its entirety - but there are already such negative reviews on here from people that have probably watched ten minutes of it, so I wanted to balance it out and let people know that Elle's acting alone is a good enough reason to give this show a chance and the real life events it's based on make a great story.

The flashbacks and the cuts to them "live" and together when they are just texting is very confusing. They jump around so much with little indication of where we are in the sequence of events. Acting is okay, I think Elle Fanning portrays Michelle pretty well. Could have been done in less episodes, I'm gonna power through to finish, but it drags a bit.