THIRTEEN
Released: August 20, 2003
This is Catherine Hardwicke's first film in the director's chair but she's been a production designer on many of my favorite films from "Tapeheads" to "Three Kings". In "Thirteen", which she co-wrote with a real 13 year old, we are given a glimpse into what it could be like to be a thirteen year old girl. The thirteen year old girl who co-wrote the story, Nikki Reed, also stars - her debut in film. Reed plays Evie, befriended by Tracy, played by Evan Rachel Wood ("Simone" and the TV series "Once & Again"). Both are perfect in this movie and while I understand the story wants to cram in as many things the two girls get involved in - including drugs, sex, shoplifting, piercings, shambolic family life, self-mutilation, general lack of values, etc. - I just hope this isn't a typical glimpse into a typical thirteen year old girl's life. Holly Hunter plays Tracy's mother and has a particularly daring role here. Also stars Deborah Unger, who appeared with Michael Douglas in "The Game". Aside from the girls dealing with every single possible bad thing that could happen in a young girl's life, this was a good, somewhat scary movie that dares to rip the lid off the more veiled take stories like this receive in movies. The two leads Wood and Reed are so full of charisma that they are worth seeing "Thirteen" on their own. But add in a gritty story and some extremely documentary-like shooting that gets more and more monochromatic as the film goes on, and you've got yourself an intertesting movie that is sure to keep you tuned in.
Be sure to keep an eye out for the scene when Hunter's mom character takes the girls out to the movies and end up arguing which film to see - a choice between John Cusack in "Operation Kandahar" and a rather goofily named Jack Black comedy vehicle -- both movies obviously made up, complete with movie posters and everything!
100 Minutes
Fox Searchlight/20th Century Fox