HOW TO BUILD A GIRL (15)

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★★★★★ IN 1990s Wolverhampton, teenage misfit Johanna Morrigan (Beanie Feldstein, pictured) runs a gauntlet of insecurities after she recites a poem on live TV about life on a working-class housing estate with her dogbreeding father Pat (Paddy Considine), exhausted mother Angie (Sarah Solemani) and four siblings.

Her brother Krissi (Laurie Kynaston) encourages her to apply for a writing job with London-based music magazine D&ME and sneering “posh boy” Tony (Frank Dillane) and his chums hire Johanna to pen a review of a Manic Street Preachers gig in Birmingham and gradually mould her into their bile-spewing mascot: Dolly Wilde.

“It’s just like Pygmalion but with a real pig,” cruelly observe the magazine’s editors as Johanna abandons her moral compass and family loyalties in pursuit of fame, culminating in a shocking betrayal of trust following a tender interview with melancholic balladeer John Kite (Alfie Allen).

Adapted by Caitlin Moran from her semiautobiographical novel, How To Build A Girl is a spiky coming-of-age story that gallops down a haphazard path towards one young woman’s personal and sexual awakening.

Feldstein continues to mine a rich vein of comedic form after her star-confirming turn in Booksmart. She delivers another powerhouse performance that breathlessly captures the flawed facets of a heroine in search of her identity.

Her wayward Midlands accent is a mild distraction during heartfelt family scenes, particularly during Johanna’s bruising fall from grace. However, awkwardly strangled vowels can’t tarnish director Coky Giedroyc’s assured work capturing the moodiness of the era.

■ Exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.