Tracy, a thirteen year old desperately trying to fit into the peer pressure-cooker environment of Junior high, goes to shocking lengths in order to befriend Evie, the most popular girl in school. The two become inseparable and easily become corrupted by their new found sexuality leaving Tracy's single, desperate mother powerless to save her from a whirlwind of drugs, sex and crime.
First off, I feel I have to mention this is one of my favourite dramatic movies and a movie that I have watched and then re-watched again only moments after it had ended. Thirteen has been blessed with a unique perspective; Thirteen year old Nikki Reed, who plays Evie, co-wrote the film with Catherine Hardwicke, from her own personal experiences with teen angst and peer pressure the story of thirteen manages to encapsulate the emotion of a thirteen year old where other films have merely imitated and reproduced motion and perspective Thirteen harnesses it through the eyes of it's writer.
I strongly believe parents and their teenage children should sit down and watch this film together. It is a powerful portrayal of a family dynamic torn apart by experimentation and the exploration of perfectly natural developments to a body. Thirteen lacks that dirty voyeuristic feeling in the pit of your stomach that you seem to get with other movies in this subject area such as: Kid's and Bully, that somehow seem you've gone too far over a line you shouldn't cross. Perhaps this is because unlike the aforementioned movies Thirteen features little nudity [the only nudity present is that of Holly Hunter] and very rarely provides for a titillating experience, in fact Thirteen is much more shocking in the terms that you know the characters are Thirteen, you know the actors are not much older than their characters and yet your seeing them get high, engage in sex and sexual activities then discuss the finer details such as 'taste' and ultimately if not slightly uncomfortable your watching someone else's destruction.
The three members of the principal cast who carry this movie do so extremely well. Evan Rachel Wood, in her first lead in a major motion picture release deserves an Oscar in my opinion for her part in this film. She became Tracy, she became Mel's daughter and she unravelled in front of our eyes. Holly Hunter was superb in a fairly small role given her fame and experience in comparison to her fellow cast and Nikki Reed, originally wanting to play the part of Tracy instead of Evie was also excellent, a beautiful girl, who gets what she wants when she wants but has a tendency to change allegiances and not bothering who it destroys in the process. The supporting cast are also good and deserve a mention; the only let down personally was Tracy's dad. I think that comes from a more personal view, like; what a bastard?!
The one gripe I would have with thirteen, and it's not a big gripe. Its title and the premise of the teens being thirteen, I don't know what it's like in the states but over here in the UK I doubt thirteen is the age for all experiences referenced in the movie I would've said fifteen or fourteen at the youngest...
The ending is a justifiable and emotional end for the rollercoaster you have just seen crash. Tracy's mother has that instinct that kicks in and it never fades, no matter what Tracy does her mother is there and always tries to fixes the problem even when Tracy begins to frighten her. The end really shows that bonds can survive and become stronger and that actually some bonds... You just can't live without.
The soundtrack is well executed and recorded providing a chilling undertone to certain scenes. There is nothing special in the realms of cinematography but there doesn't need to be