Two young girls (Evan Rachel Wood and Nikki Reed), in seventh grade, quickly turn from decent school-loving kids into miscreants. They shoplift, smoke, engage in casual sex and huff the contents of Dust-Off. The lead character (Wood) cuts herself. Where are the parents? Well, that might be part of the problem. Now, is there a solution?
This film did a job on me, emotionally. For much of the film, the actions of the girls are glamorized, and I have no doubt that this film has inspired young girls to do some of the things they saw. It strongly reminded me of "Kids", a film with kids misbehaving, but with strong consequences. "Kids" scared me out of doing foolish things for many years. The consequences here seem much less.
However, I will say that this film did a fine job of suggesting the root of the problem: a child of divorce, with a distant father and a mother (Holly Hunter) who spends much of her time with an ex-addict boyfriend (played by my favorite Jesus, Jeremy Sisto). But there really is not much explaining why the daughter goes bad while the son seems well-adjusted. So, I don't know, it all seems somewhat incomplete.
The film's defenders will point out the subtle imagery: filmed almost entirely in hand-held, and as the film goes on the picture increasing gets black and white, and there is a poster featuring the actress' eyes that gets dirty, symbolizing how she's gone from pure to tarnished. I can see that, and appreciate it, but doubt the average viewer will pick up on those hints. And don't get me wrong, I liked the film for the most part and think it was well-made, I'm just worried it may have done more harm than good.
Surprisingly, director Catherine Hardwicke was able to move from this edgy film to "Twilight" (and brought Nikki Reed with her), which is bland and clean (though so is the book). As I type this (March 2010), I'm eagerly awaiting the release of "Eclipse" as directed by David Slade. But if the director of "Thirteen" can be restrained, maybe so can the director of "Hard Candy" and "30 Days of Night"... I do love the posters advertising "The Misadventures of Ezekiel Balls" with Jack Black and "Operation Kandahar" with John Cusack... what do they tell us?
Overall, I liked the film and if the goal was to get me to react, it worked. I have a lot of respect for shock tactics and freedom of expression. The copy I watched did not have any special features... I would be quite curious to see any interviews with Hardwicke on what deeper meaning I was supposed to get from this downward spiral.
This film did a job on me, emotionally. For much of the film, the actions of the girls are glamorized, and I have no doubt that this film has inspired young girls to do some of the things they saw. It strongly reminded me of "Kids", a film with kids misbehaving, but with strong consequences. "Kids" scared me out of doing foolish things for many years. The consequences here seem much less.
However, I will say that this film did a fine job of suggesting the root of the problem: a child of divorce, with a distant father and a mother (Holly Hunter) who spends much of her time with an ex-addict boyfriend (played by my favorite Jesus, Jeremy Sisto). But there really is not much explaining why the daughter goes bad while the son seems well-adjusted. So, I don't know, it all seems somewhat incomplete.
The film's defenders will point out the subtle imagery: filmed almost entirely in hand-held, and as the film goes on the picture increasing gets black and white, and there is a poster featuring the actress' eyes that gets dirty, symbolizing how she's gone from pure to tarnished. I can see that, and appreciate it, but doubt the average viewer will pick up on those hints. And don't get me wrong, I liked the film for the most part and think it was well-made, I'm just worried it may have done more harm than good.
Surprisingly, director Catherine Hardwicke was able to move from this edgy film to "Twilight" (and brought Nikki Reed with her), which is bland and clean (though so is the book). As I type this (March 2010), I'm eagerly awaiting the release of "Eclipse" as directed by David Slade. But if the director of "Thirteen" can be restrained, maybe so can the director of "Hard Candy" and "30 Days of Night"... I do love the posters advertising "The Misadventures of Ezekiel Balls" with Jack Black and "Operation Kandahar" with John Cusack... what do they tell us?
Overall, I liked the film and if the goal was to get me to react, it worked. I have a lot of respect for shock tactics and freedom of expression. The copy I watched did not have any special features... I would be quite curious to see any interviews with Hardwicke on what deeper meaning I was supposed to get from this downward spiral.