Thirteen

Fox Search Light presents

Starring: Holly Hunter Evan Rachel Wood Nikki Reed

Directed by: Catherine Hardwicke

Rating:***1/2

Plot: A young teen age girl tries to become one of the cool girls by getting rid of her stuffed animals and cute look for more of a well lets call it a slut look. Her actions lead to a slow down fall where drugs and sex lead to her giving her loving but problem filled mother a hard time.

Acting: I love movies like this, not main stream stuff its the stuff you haft to look for is where you find real acting. Holly Hunter is clearly a great actress and if she is not nominated by the Academy it is a crime. In one performance she shows so much depth. All the pain covered up by a facade of trying to make everything fun and hip. Once the ball starts rolling and her daughter ignores and treats her like shit, the past comes alive her eyes and you can see the pain, holly fucking shit its rare to see that in a performance. Now the two teen girls are amazing here as well, unless that is how they are in real life, if that is so God help them. Evan Rachel Wood is just amazing the young woman also has a depth, not to the point Hunter does but she did very well to transition from a cute innocent little girl to a pretty amazingly hate filled girl. Now Reed who co wrote the screen play also is in this movie, she couldn't play the lead I heard so she plays the friend who in a way leads Wood's character into the deep end. She this being her first acting job I assume was brilliant and I think took the spot light away from Wood. Her pain and confusion is portraid amazingly through the girls actions and her face. Let me just say I came into the movie not expecting much and came out with a lot more.

Directing/Writing: Besides Hunter I think why the two young woman in the film did such a great job is because of the director Hardwicke, her eye behind the camera is stunning. One scene I really love in which the two young woman meet for the second time, the camera scans each girls clothing item to make us understand that in middle and high school its not what your thinking, its what your wearing. That was fucking genious in a nut shell. The way the film has subtle ways of expressing self destruction and pain is really well managed here and shown on film quit well. Now by now you might be wondering why I rated this like I did since I have been praising it so much. Acting was solid and directing was well done, but the script lacked pacing, it took too long for us to see Hunter's character grow and points were made over and over again, it got kind of boring. I guess during a summer period where there have been exploshines and craziness on the screen watching a teen girl go through a life crises is not what I really cared for seeing. See I really think everyone will enjoy this movie, its just for me I really hated the lead character I thought she was greedy and filled with hate and I just didn't like watching her, so in a way the movie really pissed me off and was really affective, I just was mad at society when I left the movie so that does mean it was beyond the level of other movies, but still I just had a bad taste in my mouth leaving the theatre.

Overall: With some weird pacing and a couple pointless scenes this movie lost some momentum but overall its a great movie all around, a great story in which parents should watch with their daughters especially. I think if more teen people see this movie maybe they will stop acting so stupid themselves. And man if anyone ever meets a girl like the character in this movie, do me a favor and punch her in the face.