Last night I went to the video store to rent "Underworld". While there I saw "Thirteen" was also out. I remember hearing something about the film when it came out. I heard that it had great acting and was a provocative film in the vain of Larry Clark's 1995 film "Kids". I somehow completely missed it in the theater, not terribly hard to do in Indiana, and decided to give that a spin too. It really is fun to rent inde flicks and mainstream monster flicks at the same time and watch the clerks head implode from the confusion. I must say the film was better than I expected. Exposés on teen drugs and sex have almost become cliché but this uses a descent script, great acting, and very nice cinematography to save itself from that fate.
Holly Hunter and Evan Rachel Wood both put on great performances. Jeremy Sisto also does a great job playing his normal creepy self, but this time with a softer edge toward the end. Nikki Reed does a descent job acting and writing. The film being co-written by a teenage girl definitely gives it the subtlety of a sledge hammer, but since the main characters are teenagers, it actually almost works well. The two best things about this film are the transformation that Tracy (Evan Rachel Wood) makes and the color change. When the bad really sets in and rock bottom is approaching the film becomes washed out almost to the point of being black and white, but not quite. This great effect is also seen in the Cincinnati scenes in "Traffic".
The scary thing about this movie is that the girls are supposed to be thirteen. They look at least eighteen. This really hits home when they make a comment about Tracy being in the 7th grade. Other than that it is easy to think of this as your run of the mill good girl gone bad story. This was Catherine Hardwicke's directorial debut so I will forgive her some things. If you cut the movie, and her, the required slack it is quite good. Don't go in expecting groundbreaking story or film work and you won't be disappointed. I think the film gets its message across well. Like "Basketball Diaries" and "Requiem for a Dream" I think it should be shown is middle school drug programs not the stuff they show now. This movie is good, almost very good, but not great. Until next time, come visit me In The Congo. B