Thirteen

[ono]

Was up late last night, and saw this fifteen-year-old girl, Nikki Reid, on Last Call with Carson Daly.  She wrote and acted in this movie.  Just something else for the general wannabe-filmmaker public to be jealous about.    I don't know if the film will be any good.  I don't know if it can be, considering the arguments brought up in related threads about the issues of the quality of writing of people under the age of say, 21, or maybe to be a little more generous, 18.  But still, it's gonna be interesting to see how this movie turned out, if it ever plays anywhere near me.

[dufresne]

i saw the trailer for this before Northfork.  don't know a whole lot about it, but i did notice that it was co-written by the lead actress.  it looked interesting, based on the trailer.

the director, Catherine Hardwicke is a production designer whose credits include Vanilla Sky and Three Kings.

[mutinyco]

I interviewed both Nikki and Evan a while back. You can read about it at:

http://www.movienavigator.org/thirteenpress.htm

[NEON MERCURY]

..From whaT I  have read/heard about this film it seems very promising ..and i think Holly HUnter is cool........

[Mesh]

Saw this last night and it was very entertaining, if a bit harsh on its 13-year-old subjects.

Most of the cast was excellent.  Evan Rachel Wood had to support the fairly complex central character and she was excellent.  Although the scenes featuring adult actors kept this film from sinking, the teenager scenes were helped along by lively direction and editing and an engaging mix of frantic music (Clinic's song made the "dropping acid in the park" scene among my favorites).  Nikki Reed was just barely tolerable as Evie, but she was the co-screenwriter (and she's only 15 today!) and it was obvious she'd had little to no acting experience.  But, you know, she was alright....

Holly Hunter's performance was watertight, as usual.  She's just completely believeable as Tracy's effed up, struggling mom.  Her affection for her role and for her onscreen daughter never seemed forced.  I also thought Tracy's estranged Dad's scene was among the best....groan-inducing and funny.

As several reviewers have stated, Thirteen does tend to take the shock value a bit far, and needlessly so.  Tracy's troubles with Evie and with her fucked up home life get emotional mileage enough without her self-mutilation scenes.  Those were unnecessary, I thought, and the least believeable aspect of the Tracy character.

Out of 10.0 possible points, I'll give it:  7.6

[Ghostboy]

I really really liked this movie. It really made me sad.  Evan Rachel Wood's performance is amazing. Easily the best female performance I've seen all year. Her penultimate scene with Holly Hunter in the kitchen was devestating.

I don't think they went too far with the material; they could have gone a whole lot further -- and the characters certainly put themselves in situations that could have ended up much worse. I'm glad the director decided to keep things reigned in; it makes the movie even more realistic. I also think the self mutilation was justified -- that's something that character would do.

I kept thinking about my 13 year old sister while I was watching it, and being really really glad she's not like that.

[mutinyco]

Is your sister as hot as they are? (Just kidding...)

[Pubrick]

yeah what's the nipple factor in this?

[pete]

this movie is like that episode in South Park where Cartmen goes to Maury and goes "whateva, whateva, I do what I want!" for 2 hours.

[SoNowThen]

good gawd, that is a funny episode...

[MacGuffin]

yeah what's the nipple factor in this?

I would think non-existent since the girls are underage.

[Pubrick]

dang.

can't be that shocking then.

[cine]

Just saw this on thursday night. Very powerful film, I must say. It's a film I'd love to seen 13 year olds sneak into. I was working at a theatre where that was playing and I knew they were sneaking in, I'd wave them in. I'd venture to say a lot of that was accurate, but I'm curious to know what percentage of 13 year olds have experienced most of that. I felt it was shot very well, it got right in there to see the self mutilation which was ugly for me (i have this thing with body parts and such. Requiem's black heroin did that for me: "ughh. fuck!!") But regardless of how I take it, that's how it should be done. Don't hide content like that from our eyes. Make it look as bad as it could. I say this, but I had no problem with the bellybutton piercing because that worked how it did. That wouldn't have had much effect if they just kept the camera on her stomach. The other shots that aren't praised enough are the marketing shots. Quick flashes of billboards and things like that. That was very good.. obviously that made a lot of sense and tied into the "I'm on a diet" comment from Tracy."
Now I don't think Holly Hunter's performance seemed forced. I can't really *feel* for the character like certain mothers out there can, but I felt that she had a genuine love for her daughter and always wanted the best for her. The scene with them at the end together when she grips Tracy in the bathroom is a great scene. Just the way they move.. and their timing.. It just looked so well done.
Flaws. I think Nikki Reed's history needed to be a bit more clear to us. I didn't like never finding out. If she was a pathological liar, so be it but the movie never makes it clear what's true and I think that should've been revealed to clear up confusion of the character. And of course, Tracy's father was a problem. All those scenes with him needed to be cleaned up BIG TIME. They should've worked something out with his deleted scenes or perhaps not even include him. I don't know. Perhaps just a better INTRO and not just suddenly one day on their porch. Didn't work for me.
All in all, a very moving film.

[Pwaybloe]

I watched this last night and really loved it.  I was just waiting for some kind of sappy resolution, but was ecstatic it never came.

Afterwards, I turned to my wife and said, "If we're having kids, it's gonna be boys."

[modage]

I'm glad the director decided to keep things reigned in; it makes the movie even more realistic.

i just watched this movie.  holy shit.  i was cringing through the wholte thing.  from the opening scene on, even when things werent bad yet, just knowing they were going to be bad, was just really really uncomfortable to watch.  i thought this movie was very very realistic and probably the only way to acheive that was to have a damn 13 year old co-write it, and it worked.  i liked the cinematography too, the camera was so energetic and constantly moving around.  and also how by the end of the film the colors were muted and everything looked dead.  i liked how they gave just enough explanation to justify the girls falling into these situations as far as being from broken homes etc.  without ever being cheesy or going too far.  it made them somehow more sympathetic than the rich kids in traffic, although i can understand anyone falling into this kind of thing, this just helped for this particular movie so you didnt spend two hours going "what the fuck are you doing?!!"  because as a parent, you really would have no idea how to handle this.  i dont know that this is a great film, but certainly a powerful one and i think this should be required viewinng for 8th/9th graders along with Elephant.

also; performances amazing all around.  and good job female director!