Thirteen

Rating:
Summary: WHAT A BORING BUNCH OF GARBAGE
Review: How doe this movie enlighten us in any way. OOOOhh!! shocking scenes of cutting and 'huffing'.

I am sorry I wasted 2 hours of my life watching this self-indulgent pap!

Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully Real
Review: ...

I have to admit the girls look a little too old to be 13, but there are a few at my school that look to old too. Believe me 13 is NOT to young to joke about sex. Whoever thinks that needs to really think hard. and I remember someone commenting on the swearing in front of the parent thing. Saying no parent would allow that or something? My best friend's mother doesnt mind if we swear or not(as long as its not in public). Its not that she a bad parent or anything she just doesnt think its really that bad.

Haha the funniest thing about this movie was that Evie reminded my little sister of a couple of my old best friends. lol it made me laugh so hard because she was so right. LOL thats sad.

Well its a great movie and good acting. I highly recommend it. The ending made me cry(too close to my own life!) I loved the ending though. My little sister didnt get the ending. I had to explain it, but she understood in the end.
Well hope everyone will see the movie and understand that its VERY real.

Rating:
Summary: it was the best
Review: I thought thirteen was a realy good movie.It shows teen that if u do drugs and drink and have sex thats how it will be.I felt bad for the girl when she woke up the next day at the end and knew that her mom knew all the bads things the she done.I think teens should watch this and maybe they will think twice befor they even attept to do drugs,drink and even have sex.

Rating:
Summary: Thirteen...out of a hundred
Review: Ho-hum. I guess this movie is lauded because it was co-written by an actual 13 year old, based on her life, in 6 days. Great - except she says she had little to do with the subsequent rewrites.

The movie was produced as an "independent" by a first-time director, so not much money was available, and it was hurriedly shot in less than 30 days. This means that there were seldom more than one or two takes per scene, tending not to produce the best result.

I found both lead girls fairly convincing as 15-year olds, but much less so as the 13-year olds they portray. They and their friends just seemed too old.

As someone else astutely posted, the movie "Christiane F." is a much better look at problems of underaged girls. However, it is in German with English subtitles, or in poorly dubbed English. I suggest the book (if you can find it) which is much better (aren't they all?) and has more detail. After "Christiane F.", "Thirteen" seems negligible.

I give it 2 stars only for the effort, not the result.

Rating:
Summary: Good but not a "cautionary tale"
Review: I liked this movie mainly because of the acting performances. Holly Hunter is great as the mom who watches her daughter transform into a minion of hell. Wood (Tracie) is great as the goody two shoes who turns to the dark side, and Reed (Evie) is great as the conniving, evil girl who seduces Wood. All three performance deserve recognintion. The problem I had with this movie is, if this movie were intended to scare kids away from this type of behaviour it certainly doesn't do a good job. Here are some problems I have 1. why does a goody two shoes all of a sudden decide she needs to walk on the wild side with a girl she doesn't know? 2. The two girls are constantly stealing from eveyone but they never caught. 3. Here are two girls who can't weigh more than 80 lbs. apiece and yet they consume all the alcohol and drugs they want without throwing up, without passing out, or without overdosing. 4. They have all the sex they want (at least in Evie's case) without getting pregnant or getting a STD. 5. Finally here are two beautiful scantilly-dressed girls who spend all hours of the night high on drugs, hanging out with boys way older than them, in the seamier parts of town, and they never once get raped, molested, or kidnapped. The only real problem Tracy seems to have is her parents divorce and her mother's new boyfriend. The only person who really suffers in this movie is the mother (at least that part is real). What this movie says to me is its okay to do bad things because its fun, yay! If you want't to see movies that are a bit more realistic watch "Kids" and "Bully."

Rating:
Summary: this could have easily been an afterschool
Review: special those of who between 30 and 40 remember so vividly (Scott Baio in "Stoned" anyone?).

There is little, on the surface, to differentiate this movie from the other "What are the kids up to know" horrorshows a la Brent Easton Ellis's "Less Than Zero" (the book NOT the tepid, sanitized movie version).

It's the performances of Ms. Wood and Ms. Hunter than make this far more than a "troubled teen wake up call" PSA of 90 minutes.

To go into to much detail would be to rob this fine film of much of its emotional punch.

Note: fathers of young daughters such as my self (mine girl is 4) should pay close attention to the clever way these 7th graders hide their hooker clothes for, ah, assignations with boys they barely know.

One bright spot I will reveal: a man, presented with these two Lolitas actually resists temptation and behaves as a man should.

The major criticism I have of this film and the reason I would rate it a B in stead of a A is the one dimenstional nature of the Evie character. This is not to criticize the actor (who also co-wrote the flick with the director; never more has my parents dictim, IT'S NOT WHAT YOU KNOW BUT WHO YOU KNOW been proven more true than Ms. Nikki's odyssey) who shows chops many our so-called "thespians" haven't learned in decades working at their craft than this young "natural" brings to the screen.

In Evie we are given little motivation, other than an airhead caretaker cousin, for her evil behavior. And evil she is. Cruel as well. I'm sure for most of us junior high was a cruel experience. The taunts, name calling, labelling and tremendous pressure to homogenize all brought me chills of memory.

The one odd thing was the kids in the movie didn't seem to know how to walk down crowded hallways; it was the only useful skill I acquired in 13 years of public schools. If they can't even convey that school, the education industry really has hit nadir.

Back to Evie. The "reasons" she gives are, in fact, lies or exaggerations. But we aren't given any real reason that this young girl would suddenly begin dealing drugs, having sex, stealing and the other attendant "risky behavior" she seduces the all too willing Tracey.

Evan Rachel Wood's character, on the other hand, is a fully fleshed out person. We get to know and understand the alienation, rage and loneliness that tears this girl apart.

In the end, the director and writers leave us as they left Tracey and Mel: shattered.

No happy/Hollywood/Danielle Steel/Lifetime ending is tacked on. As a great writer once wrote: books either tie up the loose ends or else they just stop. This movie does the latter. It just stops, leaving us almost as wrecked as Tracey and her Mom and wondering, just as they must have been, how the hell a society gets to the point where drug dealing and oral sex are "normal" behavior for 13 year old girls?

As will all great works of art, the questions "thirteen" asks are far more important than any answers--inevitably pablum--that could have been presented. Like life, this movie leaves us with the messy, squalid consequences of our actions.

But I do not think this is, ultimately, a pessimistic movie. Where there is love, there is hope. It can't solve our problems, but without we have only the empty despair of Tracey's ultimate breakdown. And that may be all the answer we need.

PS********************************

There is one scene that I should mention that is totally inappropriate for children. It concerns a wholly unecessary joke about oral sex. It was in context, but still, in my opinion needless. And, it's not even a good joke. Still, how the writers could have ever imagined having a 13 year old character utter it is beyond me.

I'm not a prude or a fan of censorship, but I would not let a child under sixteen or seventeen see this movie. In sticking to the truth so rigorously, this movie good provide a sheen of glamor to some extremely stupid behavior. Parents should keep this in mind.

Rating:
Summary: A Disturbing Perspective on Youth
Review: Grab me some Pepto Bismol and remind me never to have kids. This movie was about as much of a roller coaster as "Requiem for a Dream" was. Whew. My stomach was in knots and so was my husband's. It was quite the emotional gut-wrenching movie about a 13-year old girl who transforms from a sweetheart into a wild-child that would be any parent's worst nightmare. I wasn't like that in 1991 when I was 13, but I can imagine there were some kids in school who were. In fact, looking back now, I can see a lot of similarities between the two ill-behaved teenagers, Evie and Tracy, and some of the kids I was in school with. I believe this film paints a realistic picture of some teenagers' lives and the downward spiral that starts from peer-pressure and ends in waste. The camera work in this film was just stunning and even added to the realistic yet somehow surreal experience I gained from this movie.

Rating:
Summary: Difficult to watch, but ultimately unforgettable.
Review: One of the tragedies of modern-day America is that children are not allowed to be children anymore. Whether the blame lies on the disappearance of traditional family structure/values or the bombarding of adult images via innumerable media outlets, the fact of the matter is that 13-year olds look like 18 year olds.
And start acting like it.
This film depicts one girl's harrowing descent into premature 'adulthood", for no other reason than to be "popular". The two leads (Wood and Reed) are note perfect. Wood goes from a pig-tailed innocent to a pierced tortured young adult effortlessly. This is an actress with range, and uses it fearlessly.
Reed (also co-writer, which is a little disturbing...) is scary as the seductive Evie. She's manipulative and evil in whole new ways seen in children. The world of drugs. sex, disrespect of self and others...she's Wood's escort into this particular hell. Some viewers may be uncomfortable with the brazen sexuality she exudes, but I feel that's totally intentional. The filmmakers are trying to shake us up.
Holly Hunter has been justifiably lauded for her performance as the mom. It can be seen as a case of a parent who sees a child slipping through her fingers, and may not have the faculties to stop it.
I have to say this movie feels real. There are scenes that you HOPE are exaggerated.
I can't say it's a pleasant film to sit through, but it certainly is eye-opening, wonderfully performed and ultimately unforgettable.

Rating:
Summary: A tamer version of "Christiane F."
Review: If you haven't seen the film "Christiane F.", then you may think this is pretty strong stuff. In truth, this is actually a pretty banal version of that film and I'd strongly recommend that one instead if you want a truly harrowing depiction of the depths a teen can go if the circumstances present themselves. This is mediocre American suburbia teen rebellion. Christiane F. is available on Amazon if you dare to watch it. It is 100% based on a true story.
I watched Thirteen to get a feel for the similarities and was mildly amused, almost bored. Of course, Holly Hunter is the best actor on offer here, but that goes without saying. The rest of the cast is plainly still wet behind the ears, which takes away from the characters as the full depth of these people is not revealed due to the inexperience.
If there wasn't such a great, tragic film to compare this to, then Thirteen might have garnered a little more respect from me. But since it is just a sugar-coated remake of Christiane F. I have little to say about it.

Rating:
Summary: I've gone back and forth...
Review: Every year, after the Academy Award nominations, I go back and track down all the films that were nominated (unfortunately, living in a small town, films like this are hard for me to find...) - this is how I came to "Thirteen"

Firstly, it's not all that shocking ("kids" is shocking - this movie doesn't portray would could be happening; it simply portrays what is happening - only naivete keeps many reviewers from believing this)

This makes me wonder for what kind of audience this film is intended. Parents who watch this would be inclined to dismiss it as unrealistic (I could be wrong - although this was my initial though, reading these reviews had led me to believe that more parents were affected by the reality displayed in this film that I would have believed - but I still think that, ultimately, many viewers would be more likely to concur with the "it's everybody else's kid who acts this way" mentality), while younger viewers may have problems seeing the point (an attempt as shocking simply for the sake of shock value? I don't see much more depth here - although the script sporatically flirts with the more difficult questions, they are generally dismissed in favor of sex/drugs/rock n' roll style scenes).

There's lots to like here - performances are great all around. Holly Hunter is the best, although I still don't see this performance as Oscar-worthy. My ultimate gripe is that this film is a kind of catch-22. Since the message and the "shock value" are so closely intertwined, those who are shocked by it, will dismiss it as fantasy, while those who understand this film as completely realistic will find no profound message within.

Anyway, that's my take on the film - for those people who watch this movie and are truly affected by it, it may be very important. I'll take "kids" any day of the week.