Maidentrip

Directed by Jillian Schlesinger

(Not rated)

***

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Laura Dekker is one of the best characters you’ll see in a film all year, said Shane Ryan in PasteMagazine.com. Just 14 when she set out from Holland in 2010 to sail around the world alone, this stubborn, brave, soulful seafarer makes terrific company in Jillian Schlesinger’s masterfully crafted documentary about that two-year adventure. Don’t expect a lot of white-knuckle drama, though: The beauty of the film “comes in the small moments”—like the time we hear Dekker crying because she’s hoping that a school of dolphins she’s filming will keep her company just a little longer. Because Dekker didn’t shoot when the ocean truly tested her, “the extreme dangers and demands of the trip remain frustratingly invisible,” said Jeannette Catsoulis in The New York Times. But all along, we’re watching Dekker mature: In her “lengthening limbs and deepening introspection,” we’re witnessing a girl passing through adolescence far from the noise of cliques and social media. “The result,” said Sara Stewart in the New York Post, “is a unique and quietly wonderful ode to doing your own thing.”