Thirteen (2003)

"Thirteen"

What's it like to be a 13-year old girl in America today? With the media onslaught that dictates sexiness and coolness the pressures of being a teen are greater than ever and it takes a teenager to tell it like it is in "Thirteen."

First-time helmer Catherine Hardwicke teamed with then 13-year old Nikki Reed to write a comedy about being a teen girl in middle school. As the pair collaborated, Reed told what it is really like to be a kid caught up in the transitional world between childhood and being an adult. The result, "Thirteen," is far from comedy and is an intriguing, frightening look at America's youth.

Tracy (Evan Rachel Wood) is a normal 13-year old girl in middle school, getting good grades and being a good kid. Evie Zamora (Nikki Reed), is also 13, but looks like she's going on 23 with her provocative dress and body piercing. Tracy is mesmerize by the school's number one hottie and tries to make friends, only to be snubbed. Tracy is persistent, though, and when Evie and her clique go on a shoplifting spree, her admirer does one better and steal's a woman's purse. The girls go on a buying frenzy with the ill-gotten gain and Tracy begins her spiral down into a world she is ill prepared to cope with.

"Thirteen" is a unique, modern day fable of growing up in new Millennium America where what used to be the rites of passage for 17 and 18-year olds are now the rituals of children just entering teen hood. Peer pressure, the need to fit in with the right clique, to be considered cool and sexy are all part of the passage, but so are alcohol, pot, cocaine (and worse), sex, self-abuse and other debasements. And all this happens to kids who are nowhere near mature enough to contend with this blast of change. Hell, few well-adjusted adults could handle it.

What makes this tale of one girl's life at such a tumultuous cusp more than just an after-school special are the brilliantly conceived and acted character studies. Hardwicke and Reed have crafted a powerful story, focusing on Tracy, her mom, Melanie (Holly Hunter), and Evie. Tracy is ill-equipped for the changes that Evie propels her toward and Wood gives a remarkable performance in portraying her transition from good student/good daughter to a bad girl who thinks the world is hers and everyone else be damned. The young actress does an incredible job and makes the whole change believable - this is an Oscar caliber performance.

Holly Hunter is no slouch herself as Melanie. She is divorced, dresses hair and struggles to keep her small family - Tracy and older brother Mason (Brady Corbet) and her menagerie - going, even raising chickens for the eggs. She is always battling with her ex-husband for money and gets zero help when the fecal matter hits the fan with Tracy's rebellion. Melanie doesn't know what to do with this person who used to be her sweet daughter and is not ready for the truth. In the end, she is still Tracy's mom and nothing can change that. Hunter will be remembered come year's end.

Nikki Reed does double duty as scribe and co-star and, while she is not given the character arc of Tracy, does a superb job as an out-of-control teen who is conniving, sharp-witted and has a subtle air of evil about her as she pulls/pushes Tracy into the morass of growing up wrong. The rest of the supporting cast is solid in filling in the background. Jeremy Sisto, as Melanie's ex-druggie boyfriend Brady, plays a man who made mistakes in his life, paid the price and is trying to get back on his feet - and is disdained by the "new" Tracy. Sisto's is a likable, honest character. Brady Corbet does a fine job as Tracy's better-adjusted brother who must watch his sister change into a creature that he cannot comprehend. Deborah Kara Unger, as Evie's guardian/cousin, is the picture of the distracted model/actress who goes through physical agony answering the dictates of her profession while totally botching her guardian responsibilities with Evie - blaming Tracy as the "bad influence."

The hyper kinetic camera work by Elliot Davis, using different grains and color hues to evoke emotion, captures the fast-paced life of the teen rebels. Normally this MTV-style camera and editing - fast cuts and jerky camera - annoy me but in "Thirteen" it works perfectly as the film tells of Tracy's rapid, downward plunge into trouble. Cindy Evan's costume design runs the gamut from Tracy's innocence of t-shirts and sneakers to the Frederick's of Hollywood style of dress when she transforms into a Girl Culture girl. Production design by Carol Strober is particularly well done in creating Melanie's trying-to-make-ends-meet home.

"Thirteen" hits as hard as Ken Park's "Kids" but doesn't use the titillation factor to keep your interest. Instead Catherine Hardwicke provides a poignant, powerful look into a part of American life, the teen rite of passage, that is incredibly eye opening - and a little scary. It definitely does not make me want to come back as a 13-year old. I give it an A-.

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X-RAMR-ID: 35610
X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 1192752
X-RT-TitleID: 1124997
X-RT-SourceID: 386
X-RT-AuthorID: 1488
X-RT-RatingText: A-