Thirteen

Rating:
Summary: A Tough, Rewarding Film
Review: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2003--It would be easy to dismiss "Thirteen" as an exploitative exercise in shock, but to do so would deny the film its hard-edged realism, phenomenal acting and powerfully unsentimental story, which culminates in one of the most emotionally raw and unforgettable endings I have ever seen. Spinning the scary tale of a perfectly normal thirteen-year-old girl, Tracy, who, with the aide of a more "experienced" rebel named Evie, slips and falls into a hellish downward spiral of every parent's worst nightmare, "Thirteen" is a stunning work, but can be difficult to stomach at times. For instance, it opens with the two girls huffing aerosol cans and, so awestruck by the numbness in their faces, they start slapping each other for kicks. This is probably one of the less shocking scenes of rebellion, as later they delve into real drugs, take up beer drinking and experiment with their fragile sexuality. Nothing, however, is as hard to take as the scenes where Tracy finds some random sharp object and begins slicing up her own arm, all to temporarily escape the pain of living.

Despite the many difficult things shown, the shock factor actually works in this movie because it all seems so horribly real. There's not a single part of this movie that couldn't be happening somewhere in this country right now, and that's what makes "Thirteen" so terrifying.

Aiding the film in its realistic approach is the camerawork by first-time director Catherine Hardwicke. She shot the movie with a digital camera, and it often has the look and feel of a documentary. She also splashes the film with vibrant colors at points to add to the sense of decadence in the girls' care-free, dangerous lifestyles. Later, near the end, Hardwicke also seems to drain almost all color out of the scenes in order to display the cold reality of life when all the drugs and sex and partying lead to their natural conclusions.

The film doesn't offer any cookie-cutter solutions on how to deal with wild teens, nor does it offer us a smiley-faced ending where it all works out and everyone winds up happy. Instead, in its final minutes, it offers only wrenching emotional truth and a quiet, subtle message of hope.

Through all of this, the entire ensemble does nothing but impress. The main star of the movie, and the one who undergoes the most changes, is Evan Rachel Wood ("Once and Again"), who plays Tracy as if this were the story of her own life. Amazing in every capacity, she proves herself a worthy successor to our current generation of A-list actresses. As well, Nikki Reed, who plays Evie (and co-wrote the film with Hardwicke), astonishes in her first performance. She also has a bright future. Meanwhile, it's a reliable veteran, Holly Hunter, who, as Tracy's mom, becomes the "Thirteen"'s shaky moral center, a recovering alcoholic with more heart than brain, so clueless as to what's going on but undeterred in her determination to keep her only daughter safe no matter what. It's a tough role, and Hunter nails it. The final moments involve an emotionally intense scene between Hunter and Wood, and watching it, you realize that there are few-maybe none-who could have handled it better.

"Thirteen" is an amazing film, which despite many uncomfortable moments, manages to stand out as one of the few great movies of the year. However, be forewarned: it is not for the faint of heart, nor is it a movie you would see to be entertained in the traditional sense. Still, whatever opinion you walk out of "Thirteen" with, you have to admit at least one thing: it stays with you, like the bitter chill on your bones during the cruelest winter.

Rating:
Summary: Terrifyingly real...
Review: The litmus test for the realism in this one - watched it with a group of 12-18 year old girls and they all said it reflected the reality of being teenagers, with all the actual pressures and stresses of their high school and social lives. This is, quite simply, one of the most honest (and painful) movies about adolescence that I've ever seen..and it was written by a teenager who also stars in the movie...amazing!
At the start of the movie, Tracy (played by Evan Rachel Wood) is a good student with a not-so-great family life. Her mother is struggling to put food on the table and under a lot of pressure to hold family and home together.
So it makes sense that Tracy would be drawn to "the coolest girl in school", Evie, a wild rebel with a penchant for danger. Evie gladly takes Tracy under her wings, often pushing her into Tracy into situations she isn't prepared for (parents should be aware that some of the scenes are graphic, including sexuality and nudity).
It is impressive that this film is so utterly believable and the sensational and often shocking scenes make sense in the context of Tracy and Evie's lives. Adding to the strength of this film is Holly Hunter's strong performance as a mother who is desperate to save her daughter but isn't quite sharp enough to find the right path. One of the best films of the year, bar none!

Rating:
Summary: A thought provoking wake up call
Review: I just watched this movie with a group of good friends, most of whom were females and one of whom is a high school teacher. Not only did this movie invoke painful memories of my own dealing with close female friends (the cutting scene hit too close to home), but it shocked me into asking my friends if the movie was anything like what they've experienced.

While I think some dramatic license was taken with everything happening to one kid, across the board, I was made to understand that *all* of the stuff and more that was protrayed in the movie was accurate to what has happened in the past and what is happening now - especially so in the Southern Californian setting.

The one possible weakness of this film may have been the portrayal of the mother. But not having been a parent myself, I felt that any opinions I would have would be unqualified.

The bottom line is that this movie is realistic, worthwhile, well done, and perhaps the highest praise of all: relevant.

Rating:
Summary: Superb acting!
Review: The only thing this movie is worth seeing if because of Evan Rachel Wood (Who I think should've had stayed Rachel Wood) and Holly Hunter's perfect performances. Wood should've had been nominated for an oscar, she deserves it... her performance was just up there with Naomi Watts on 21 grams... A character like Tracy often gets a child actress who makes too many facial expresions for her own good, but this time, they got a real actress (not child actress) who can deliver lines alongside the great Holly Hunter. I could go on for a long time talking about Holly Hunter's acting, but I wont, cause I'm too tired and it's boring to real. I'll just say she's magnificent.
The script was well written, portraying how real teenage girls talk... anyway, the only thing I didnt like was:
a) this movie made me cry
b) it was slow paced
c) everything bad that can happen to you, as a girl, it's right there happening to 1 person

Rating:
Summary: Very gritty portrayal of adolescence
Review: Thirteen is a very powerful movie that does not shy away from showing life how it really is. Tracy is a shy 7th grader who is trying to fit in at school as everything changes around her. Her life changes when she meets Edie, a wild child constantly experimenting with drugs and sex. Tracy's newfound frienship plunges her into a strange new world. She begins to experiment with drugs and sex, she starts shoplifting, body piercings, and also starts cutting herself. Thirteen throws the viewer into the world of this thirteen year old girl. It is a very realistic portrayal of life as a teenager. At times it goes a little over the top with certain stereotypes, but overall Thirteen is a very good movie that attempts to show things how they really are.

Evan Rachel Wood gives an excellent performance as Tracy, the troubled teen who thinks she has everything under control. Holly Hunter is equally as good as Tracy's mother, Melanie, who is not quite sure how to handle Tracy's changing moods and behavior. Nikki Reed plays Edie, Tracy's friend who introduces her to a whole new world. Reed also co-wrote the impressive script. The movie also stars Jeremy Sisto, Brady Corbet, and Deborah Unger. The DVD offers several commentaries from the cast and crew, theatrical trailers, 10 deleted scenes with commentary, a making of featurette, and widescreen and fullscreen presentations. For a very realistic/gritty portrayal of the struggles of teenage life, check out Thirteen!

Rating:
Summary: Powerful, gut-wrenching, and realistic
Review: True, "Thirteen" tries to cram too much into a 95 minute film. Cutting, sex, drugs, and alcohol are just a few of the things these teenagers experience. And yes, not many 13 year old girls get to experience all that at such an early age, but wake up people, it IS out there despite what you think. And that's why calling "Thirteen" unrealistic because of what it portrays is unjustified. All of us, at one point or another, have had a hard time fitting in. We have all felt alone and useless and angry. And "Thirteen" portrays all those feelings extremely well. It isn't an expertly written film, but it has heart and emotion.

A debut film from Catherine Hardwicke, Thirteen is a terrifying film about a little girl whose life goes right off the rails. Co-written by then 13-year-old Nikki Reed, who also co-stars in the movie, Thirteen features Evan Rachel Wood as Tracy, a nice kid in seventh grade, who wants to be popular. The movie begins with two girls engaged in a grotesque game of face-slapping and then goes back in time a few months. Here is an entirely innocent Tracy tossing out her stuffed animals -- a bit reluctantly -- while her mom looks on. Holly Hunter plays mom; she's a single mother and a hairdresser whose clients come to the house. Mom has her issues, but works hard to keep everything together.

At school, Tracy can only look with envy at a trio of popular girls led by the beautiful, well-dressed, grown-up Evie (Reed). Soon, Evie and Tracy bond over a little shoplifting, and in a matter of weeks, Tracy's life has changed completely. She becomes best friends with Evie and immediately joins the likes of the In-Crowd. Everything spirals straight downhill from there...

Evie is dangerous. She cons everyone who crosses her path, and before long she's actually living at Tracy's house and messing up the whole family. (On her side, Evie has for family only a narcissistic aunt, played with gusto by Deborah Kara Unger.)

The descent into teen hell in Thirteen is a touch too quick to fully make sense, but the characters are so perfectly drawn and the performances so raw and so brilliant that the film manages to have an amazing impact.

For a lot of reasons, Thirteen should be required viewing. The director, Catherine Hardwicke, has shown Thirteen at schools, teen centres, juvenile halls and the like; parents who don't shock easily should take their teenaged children to see this movie. Every parent's nightmare about how girls go wrong is packed into this movie and onto Hunter's frazzled face as she watches her daughter deteriorate. The whole thing would stink of phony moralizing if Catherine Hardwicke, who won the directing prize at Sundance 2003, didn't pack it with such raw vitality. Reed is strikingly good as Evie. She should be: She was thirteen when she wrote the semi-autobiographical script with Hardwicke, who used to date Reed's divorced dad. But the revelation is Wood, 15, formerly of TV's Once and Again, who makes Tracy's transformation harrowing and haunting. She's a live wire. Brace yourself for Thirteen -- it'll cause a commotion.

Rating:
Summary: Touched a nerve
Review: When I asked my parents to rent this movie for me, they were hesitant. "Are you sure you want to see it?" the asked.
I did see it and I'm glad. Painfully true, Thirteen made me remember a period in my life when I was angry, depressed and wild. Pretty much everything that happened to Tracy happened to me. Shoplifting, drinking, drugs, selfharm, promiscuity......I felt like I understood Tracy, inside out. Before that I played with dolls and vowed to never even smoke a cigarette.
That all happened when I was fourteen. Now I'm seventeen, and all that's left to remind me of that period in my life is a few faint scars, a pile of stolen CDs and the knowledge that the teenage years are not a golden cheerleader dream; they are frightening, exciting, horrible and wonderful all at the same time. This movie embodies the very essence of adolecence, as I remember it. A masterpiece.

Rating:
Summary: Disturbing, but some parts were moving
Review: I'll grant the good reviewers that their are some amazing actors and actresses in this movie. It is the screenplay itself I found a little, well, ummm...sick. While I'm sure the director was sincere in her effort to make an realistic movie about today's teenagers - specifically thirteen-year-old girls, I feel that she missed the mark on a few things:

#1. We never see Tracy's friends (the good girls) going about life without resorting to the extremely disastrous decisions Tracy embraces. This would have been a good way to show the results of good decisions, contrasting the negative decisions made by Tracy

#2. In reality, Tracy would see her downfall more clearly than the screenplay suggests. I made a LOT of bad decisions during my teen years; I and all of my friends discussed our stupid decisions amongst each other - consulting each other for advice. Tracy doesn't approach anyone about her bad decisions. This just doesn't hold up with a screenplay chasing after reality.

#3. Most kids today have enough brains to realize peer pressure can drag you down, yet Tracy's character allows peer pressure to drowned her constantly.

Now, the good things. Holly Hunter is such a great actress, that I love everything she does. Evan Rachel Wood complimented Holly Hunter well; the scene when Holly's character (Tracy's Mom) continues to hug her daughter after finding out how far her daughter has fallen may just be one of the most moving scenes filmed in the past few years.

As a screenplay writer and author, I found this movie to be a sincere effort at making a film about today's teenager; a movie that is brilliant in parts and very shallow in other parts. I hope people who loved this movie are not too mad at me for any criticism I have for this movie; I have to say how I truly feel - the same way the director has to make the film she wants.

I am very interested in looking up other movies directed by Catherine Hardwicke to see more of her work.

See ya next review.
www.therunninggirl.com

Rating:
Summary: A tough year
Review: A bright 13-year-old "good girl," Tracy (Evan Rachel Wood), is drawn into the orbit of the "bad girl" Evie (Nikki Reed) and begins a self-destructive downward spiral. The film is very good at chronicling the boys, the drugs and the stealing, but I felt that it was a bit slim in showing what motivated Tracy to star down that path. I realize that fitting in and being popular is of vital importance at that age, but I wanted to the movie to make me really feel that need rather than rely on my own memories of it. Holly Hunter turns in a powerful, raw performance as Tracy's mother--I really appreciated her story more than that of the girls. Nikki Reed also co-wrote the script when she was thirteen herself.

Rating:
Summary: Probably the most realistic movie on teenagers ive ever seen
Review: Im a 16 year old male who recently viewed Thirteen and i thought it was one of the best movies ive seen. Although i am a male i can relate to the lead charector in many ways at the age of fourteen i followed in the footsteps of my friend john who was the coolest cat around he showed me drugs and from there i went into a downward spiral much like Tracey in this movie. After drugs came depression, anger issues, drug trafficing charges, and the loss of many of my old friends. I saw this movie while in treatment for my various shortfalls and knew at least 3 other girls in the room who had the same problems as the girl in the movie cutting, drugs, sexual exploration, family issues, as well as a wide variety of mental issues. And to say that this is only a select group of people and thats why this is skewed is resonable but before i went into treatment i saw many people around me falling into the same trap just to a lesser degree all teens deal with peer pressure in terms of drugs, stealing, and promiscuous behavior. As i said before in my mind this is one of the best movies ever its changed my outlook on the way i acted at that time and how i can better my future. My only complain is like what others feel in that I think the ending wasnt what i had hoped for i wish i knew whether or not tracy and Evie continue their current fued or if tracy returns to her old friend Noel, other questions like does Tracy go back to her old ways or does she remain her disobedient self? All would have been helpful my hope is that the director puts out a book to rap up the entire situation to help us out.