Last year, I heard a lot about the movie Thirteen, mostly having
to do with the fact that its co-author was as young as the main
character. Intrigued by the idea of a movie written by one so young and
experiencing my usual combo package of inspiration and jealousy when
faced with a prodigy, I added it to the list of movies I wanted to see,
but many films higher up on the list didn’t make the cut so Thirteen
would have to wait for a day when I could rent it. That day came a
couple months ago, when I spent the evening with two friends who were
equally intrigued by the screenwriting credits. When the movie ended, we
were all glad we’d waited for the video.
The writer in
question is Nikki Reed, who takes a lead role in the film as Evie, a
popular, worldly girl with whom the main character, Tracy (Evan Rachel
Wood), becomes obsessed towards the beginning of the film. Tracy starts
out as a nice, sweet 13-year-old girl who loves her mother, Melanie
(Holly Hunter), dotes on the younger children in her neighborhood, and
plays innocently with her longtime friends. But this year, it seems, is
destined to be different. When members of a snotty clique make a
derogatory comment about her socks, Tracy snaps. Suddenly all she cares
about is being popular, and that means getting in with Evie. After a
grand dissing by Evie and her friends, Tracy manages to win her way into
their crowd by stealing an elderly woman’s wallet. Before long, Evie
has dumped the rest of her friends, and so has Tracy. The two become a
gruesome twosome, with Evie’s charm landing her a semi-permanent spot in
Tracy’s home.
Throughout the course of the movie, the sweet
little girl that was Tracy vanishes. She snaps at her mother constantly
and without good cause even as Evie warms up to Melanie. Under Evie’s
sinister tutelage, Tracy spends the bulk of the film in a whirlwind of
substance abuse, self-mutilation, theft, and lewd activity, and her
dialogue is heavily peppered with profanity. Both girls have troubled
homes, but the film shows Melanie making a genuine effort to do what is
best for her family in spite of her own struggles with drugs and alcohol
and a boyfriend, Brady (Jeremy Sisto), with similar problems. She is
easily the most sympathetic character in the film. I spent much of the
film angry with Tracy for her abrupt and uncalled for change in
behavior, and it was evident from the beginning that Evie spelled
trouble. Although it seems we are not supposed to like Brady, I thought
Tracy’s vilification of him did not match the character the film
presented. Most of the time he seemed like a perfectly decent guy whose
problems did not make him any worse than any other character in the
movie.
I found the whole film dark, depressing, and hard to
follow. The cinematographic style was jarring; it looked as though the
movie had been shot on a home video camera by someone who did not know
how to operate the camera properly. I found the 180-degree change in
Tracy’s character unbelievable and the activities she engaged in with
Evie abhorrent. I guess I’ve lived a sheltered life, but I can’t imagine
seventh-graders living this way. High schoolers, perhaps, but not kids
just starting junior high. The acting seemed solid enough, but I found
the film so thoroughly unlikable that I couldn’t appreciate it, even in
the scenes between Melanie and Tracy that I was supposed to find so
moving. I guess this is a film that would probably best be appreciated
by teenagers – too R-rated for younger children and too disturbing for
adults who already feel like kids today are on the wrong track. But I
certainly couldn’t have related to this movie when I was thirteen, and I
hope the number of thirteen-year-olds who can is not nearly as large as
Reed would have us think.
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