THIRTEEN
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2003 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): ***
Since THIRTEEN contains many memorable performances and is based on a
gut-wrenching, true story, it is such a shame that director Catherine Hardwicke
almost sinks her own film by her obsession with all of the bad tricks of
digital video. The obfuscatory THIRTEEN pans so wildly and so obsessively
that's it hard to follow the action. The grainy, washed-out images have all of
the warmth and appeal of an ad in an old magazine left out in the sun. In
order to pump up the edginess factor, the director insists on fast, choppy
editing, which is such a waste, as the characters have so much to say to us.
The story is about a new seventh grader who is making the transition from
Barbies to sex, drugs and stealing, thanks to the miracles of peer pressure.
Evan Rachel Wood, seen recently and impressively as an innocent 12-year-old
girl in LITTLE SECRETS, plays a 13-year-old would-be woman named Tracy, who is
throwing her life away as fast as she can.
Wanting nothing more than to be popular, Tracy sets her sights on hanging out
with the slightly older Evie, her school's top hottie. Evie, a bisexual devil,
is played by Nikki Reed, who co-wrote the script with the director. In
real-life, Reed was Tracy. Both young actresses deliver sterling performances,
as does Holly Hunter, who plays Tracy's mother, Melanie. Mel, who has problems
of her own, would like to be a good mother but suffers from a bad case of
blindness and naiveté when it comes to observing what is happening to her
daughter. Tracy cuts herself nightly in the family's one bathroom, does all
kinds of drugs in her room from snorting cocaine to huffing inhalants, has sex
with boys whom she has just met and steals things just to impress her friends.
Her mother remains basically oblivious of all of this for months until she is
forced to see it.
If you've got teenagers, especially girls, the movie will probably prove far
scarier that this week's other release, JEEPERS CREEPERS 2. When I was able to
ignore the oppressively pseudo-artistic approach of the video camera operator,
I was quite moved by the story. But the movie could -- and should -- have been
much better.
THIRTEEN runs 1:40. It is rated R for "drug use, self destructive violence,
language and sexuality - all involving young teens" and would be acceptable for
older teenagers.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, August 29, 2003. In
the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the Camera Cinemas.
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