Common Sense Media’s weekly recommendations

Coming-of-age drama explores sexuality, religion, addiction.

“The Starling Girl” is a coming-of-age drama centering on sexuality and religion. The main character is 17-year-old Jem Starling (Eliza Scanlen), who’s judged by her rural Kentucky church community as she starts to be seen as sexually mature. Her parents think that it’s time for her to start thinking about “fulfilling her purpose” as a wife and mother, but Jem is more interested in connecting with 28-year-old married youth group leader Owen (Lewis Pullman), whose life experiences outside the community intrigue her. The two develop a sexual relationship that has a skewed power dynamic given their significant age difference. There’s no explicit nudity, but be prepared for discussions about sex and morality. Characters get into arguments/intense exchanges, and there are a few instances of one character hitting another, with some blood. In another scene, a character forcibly holds someone’s head underwater for a long time. An adult character struggles with alcoholism. (116 minutes)

Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai (TV-PG)

Spirited adventure series has lots of action, some peril.

“Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai” is an animated series for kids that details the history of the creatures that first hit screens in the 1980s. It’s set in 1920s China, when a kind young boy named Sam (voiced by Izaac Wang) and his grandfather (James Hong) come upon a mystical Mogwai. The show is tamer than the movies that inspired it, but there’s some peril that may be intense for younger kids, plus lots of action and adventure. Violence includes knives and explosions, and Sam’s grandfather pranks him with a human skull in his bed. Through his adventures, Sam learns to be brave and stand up for what’s right. (10 half-hour episodes)

Moving tale of woman who hid Anne Frank’s family from Nazis.

“A Small Light” tells the story of Miep Gies (Bel Powley), who hid Anne Frank’s family and other Jewish people in Amsterdam during World War II. While appropriate for older tweens, it deals with heavy material. Some characters tell emotional stories about when they realized that Germany wasn’t their home anymore. Others talk about death camps and waiting for Nazis to come and kill them. Scenes show Nazi soldiers marching on Amsterdam and rounding up Jewish people by throwing them into trucks. Someone tells the story of an ice-cream shop owner whom the Nazis shot and killed because he defended his Jewish customers. Miep talks about being malnourished and near death at 10 years old, which led to her birth mother giving her to a family who could feed her. Characters kiss, and a married couple starts to take off their clothes to have sex (only a bare male chest is shown). Language includes insults (“idiot”) and occasional use of words such as “s—.” (Four roughly hour-long episodes)

Available on Disney Plus.

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