movie's 411

>> THIRTEEN (2003)

Starring: Holly Hunter, Evan Rachel Wood, Nikki Reed and more ...
Director: Catherine Hardwicke
Genre: Drama




let me start by saying the movie is a "4 star" movie but rounded up because of the great performances by the three female leads (evan rachel wood, holly hunter and nikki reed). the movie is shot in super 16mm film and almost all scenes were done with the camera hand held. this gives the movie a bit of a raw feel and at times can almost make you feel like a peeping tom. this is the frightening story of how a nice girl falls under the influence of a wild girl and barely escapes big, big, big trouble, by which i mean drugs, crime, unwanted pregnancies, and other hazards that some teenagers seem inexplicably eager to experience.

that the horrors in this movie are worse than those found in the lives of most 13-year-olds, i believe and hope. it is painful enough to endure them at any age, let alone in a young and vulnerable season when life should be wondrous. but i believe such things really happen to some young teenagers. nikki reed (the girl playing as evie zamora, who co-wrote the screenplay when she was 13, and was 14 when she played evie in this movie, the movie's troublemaker. in real life reed was the good girl; here, as a wild and seductive bad influence, she's so persuasive and convincing i'm prepared to believe the movie is a truthful version of real experiences.

evie is the most popular girl in the seventh grade, because of her bold personality, her clothes and accessories (mostly stolen), and her air of knowing more about sex than a 13-year-old should. the school's value system is suggested by the fact that some of the students are working on a "project" about J. Lo.

one of evie's admirers is tracy (evan rachel wood), a good student who hangs around with a couple of unpopular girls and wants to trade up. evie is cruel to her ("call me." she says, and gives her the wrong number). but when tracy steals a purse and hands over the money, evie takes her on a shopping spree and soon the girls are such close friends that evie has, essentially, moved into tracy's room.

tracy lives with her divorced mother melanie, played by holly hunter in a performance where the character vibrates with the intensity of her life. melanie lives in a sprawling house she can't afford, inherited from a marriage with a husband who is behind on his child support; she runs a beauty salon in her kitchen, and her house seems to be a drop zone for friends, acquaintances, their children and their needs ("a $2 tip," she complains after one mob leaves, "and they ate half the lasagna.")

melanie is a recovering alcoholic, hanging on to AA for dear life, and with a boyfriend named brady (jeremy sisto) who is in the program, too, although melanie has painful memories from when he wasn't. melanie is sober, but it would be fair to say her life is still unmanageable, and although she loves tracy and protects her with a mother's fierce love, she's clueless about what's going on behind that bedroom door.

although evie is trouble enough on her own, she reaches critical mass after she moves in with tracy. perhaps only a 13-year-old like reed could have found the exact note in dialogue where the mother tries to get answers and information and is rejected and ignored like an unsolicited telephone call. you might doubt that a girl could conceal from her mother the fact that she has had her tongue and navel pierced, but this movie convinced me of that, and a lot more.

who is this movie for? not for most 13-year-olds, that's for sure. the R rating is richly deserved, no matter how much of a lark the poster promises. maybe the film is simply for those who admire fine, focused acting and writing; "thirteen" sets a technical problem that seems insoluble, and meets it brilliantly, finding convincing performances from its teenage stars. showing a parent who is clueless but not uncaring, and a world outside that bedroom window that has big bad wolves, and worse. one thing for sure, coming from a 13-year old scriptwriter who told stories about a life at thirteen, nikki reed really portrays a good picture of it is. and with the quite intense performance, it is worth to watch to the end. i just loved the ending. such a powerful performance.


>> rated by :: sLesTa | [ ]

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